City commission leaves mask mandate in place

An ordinance which mandates the wearing of masks in public spaces within the Concordia city limits will remain in place for at least two more weeks.
Following a scheduled review, the Concordia city commission took no action on the ordinance that was established to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
The ordinance, which mandates the wearing of masks and the enforcement of isolation and quarantine orders, will remain in place until there is a vote by the city commission to rescind it. The next commission meeting is scheduled for February 3.
The commission uses the Community Gating Criteria to review the ordinance during each regular meeting. It is looking for the two-week positivity rate and the two-week cumulative incidence rate to fall within the green and yellow levels.
“We talked about once we hit the green and yellow criteria talking about rescinding that mask mandate. But in the orange and red, looking at implementing and maintaining that,” city manager Amy Lange said.
Amy Lange informed the commission that the COVID-19 two week positivity rate in Cloud County is 10.6 percent.
Lange said that Cloud County Health Department administrator Brandi Bray would like to have the positivity rate get down closer to five percent.
The two week cumulative incidence rate in the county for the week of January 10 was 228 per 100,000 people.
There were 20 new virus cases in the county during that time frame, with an estimated population of 8,789.
Lange said that to get down into the yellow level it would require less than nine new cases over the course of two weeks. To drop to the green level it would require less than five new cases.
“I kind of believe that it is going to be really difficult to get us to either the low positivity rate or those low incidence rates,” Lange said. “Talking with Brandi, she felt that if we could increase the number of people that would get vaccinated that may help to change her mind and get closer to where we could rescind that mask mandate,” Lange said.
Cloud County Health Department administrator David Garnas said that the staff is starting to see the COVID-19 numbers go down.
Garnas said that there are currently two COVID-19 patients in the hospital, and that only one staff member is currently out because of the virus.
Garnas said that he believes the mask mandates are working.
Cloud County Health Center continues to experience issues with being able to transfer patients out who need a higher level of care.
“Clearly the upstream issues are not going away,” Garnas said.
Garnas said that once the county has gotten through phase two of the vaccinations, which includes those people 65-years-old and older, and are moving into phase three, it could be a time to consider lifting the mask mandate.
Following two executive sessions for the purpose of discussing non-elected personnel, the commission voted to table action on the renewal of the city manager contract for Lange, pending the outcome of the study session regarding city staff salaries, understanding that she continues to be under contract based on earlier agreements about the continuity of contracts until it agrees on additional provisions.
Renewal of Lange’s contract was on the action agenda for the meeting.
“Her contract will be renewed,” Mayor Chuck Lambertz said in an interview following the meeting. “We couldn’t be more pleased with the work she is doing.”
Lambertz said that the commission is working to modify the contract to provide specific terms and that it will be revisited after a decision is made on the pay scale for all city employees.
A study session on the employee pay scale that was scheduled for Wednesday was moved to the meeting on February 3.
Lange has served as city manager since October 2017. Her contract continues unless otherwise decided by the commission.
Also during the meeting, the commission approved the purchase of an Extractor washer and dryer from Weis Fire Department Equipment in the amount of $10,900.99, to be paid from the Strengthening People and Revitalizing Kansas (SPARK) funds provided to the city.
Concordia Fire Chief Eric Voss informed the commissioners that the washer and dryer would be used to clean contaminated clothing and personal protective equipment, including N-95 masks.
The fire department is currently using a standard washer and dryer to clean all items at the station.
The new washer and dryer would allow all items to be cleaned to the required National Fire Protection Agency standards.
Purchase of the washer and dryer will complete the spending of the SPARK funds.
The purchase of a mini split air conditioner unit from Hood Heating Air Plumbing & Electric for the server room at the Concordia Police Department was approved by the commission.
The estimated cost of the air conditioner is $4,574.
Concordia Police Chief Ric Fredrickson reported to the commission that the current air conditioner is about 12 years old and the compressor went out because of technical failure, causing metal shavings to move throughout the entire system.
The commission met in executive session for 10 minutes with Lange and CloudCorp executive Kim Reynolds for the purpose of discussing confidential business data.