April 30, 2020 — Discussions about economic recovery and enforcing the shelter in place order led to several testy exchanges at this week’s board of supervisors meeting. More than half of the county’s residents may not have the resources to weather the economic fallout of the pandemic, according to information shared by Deputy CEO Darcie Antil.
County government is not immune to the crashing economy. The board voted unanimously to defer Transient Occupancy Tax and Business Improvement District Assessments through July, with no penalty, in hopes of staving off bankruptcy for lodging operators.
Supervisor John McCowen made a suggestion about recovering taxes from the cannabis sector, in part by using aerial surveillance, but this quickly devolved into a disagreement with Supervisor John Haschak, who is the current chair of the board, over parliamentary procedure.
The board moved on to discussing how to enforce the shelter in place order, which is complicated, because the cities, the unincorporated county, and the state parks are all under different jurisdictions. Trent Taylor, of Planning and Building Code Enforcement, has had success in his efforts.
But complaints of unfairness have crystallized around two main points: one, that small businesses are being hit harder than box stores; and two, that out-of-towners are flaunting the rules while law-abiding locals strive to follow them as closely as they can. Supervisor Ted Williams appeared to conflate the two, as he showed photographs of out-of-state license plates on the coast while expressing concern for small business.
The prevailing wisdom is that widespread testing is what will enable the economy to open back up, and tests are not widely available in the United States of America. Sheriff Matt Kendall reported that, like Taylor, he is finding that most people are following the order.
The limited reopening is scheduled to begin May 10, with the possibility of parks and golf courses being somewhat available again.