Commission extends Lange's contract, rescinds mask mandate

Extending the contract of city manager Amy Lange and rescinding an ordinance which mandates the wearing of masks in public spaces within the city limits were approved by the Concordia city commission during its regular meeting on Wednesday night.
Following three executive sessions, totaling 50 minutes, for the purpose of discussing non-elected personnel, the commission unanimously approved extending Lange’s contract for three years.
Lange took over as city manager on January 2, 2018.
During the January 20 meeting, the commission voted to table discussions on Lange’s contract until an agreement on pay scale adjustments for classified staff was reached.
Mayor Chuck Lambertz said during that meeting that Lange’s contract would be renewed.
In February, the commission approved wage rate increases of $1 per hour to the fire and non-fire classified staff pay scale.
Revisiting the discussion on Lange’s contract on Wednesday, the commission approved to extend it.
Also during the meeting, the commission voted 3-2 to rescind an ordinance that was implemented November 20, 2020, to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Commissioners Chuck Lambertz, Ashley Hutchinson and Regena Belden voted to rescind the ordinance. Christy Hasch and Marsha Wentz opposed the motion.
The ordinance mandated the wearing of masks in public spaces within the city limits and the enforcement of isolation and quarantine orders.
It was decided that the commission would review the ordinance during each meeting using a community gating criteria that looks at positivity rate and the two-week cumulative incidence rate.
The commission received input on the ordinance from the Cloud County Health Department, Cloud County Health Center, Unified School District 333 and Cloud County Community College.
All of those entities recommended extending the ordinance through at least March 15 if not longer.
Information provided by the Cloud County Health Department stated those individuals who have not qualified under Phase 1 or Phase 2 of Kansas’ COVID-19 vaccination plan are at highest risk for spreading the virus and the most likely to go out in public.
Cloud County is currently receiving 100 doses of the vaccine per week.
If the current allotments hold and expected doses arrive as scheduled, the health department expects 1,700 people will have had at least the first doses by March 15. That is approximately 20 percent of the county population.
USD 333 and Cloud County Community College each recommended extending the ordinance until at least March 15 and up to March 31, which would be two weeks after spring break.
Cloud County Health Center administrator David Garnas met with the commission and said he has discussed the ordinance with the medical staff, and that the virus numbers are trending in a positive direction.
“With the numbers trending down, and of course we all want to be good stewards of our requests to this commission, your previous support during this crazy time that we have all gone through, we would be understanding of your desire to lift the mandate at this point,” Garnas said. “However, I would ask a few things with that. I would ask that, I hope the city and all of us will encourage folks to do the right thing like wear masks, hand sanitize, social distancing, all of those types of things. That is not going away. That is still something we need to continue to preach. We hope that people understand that COVID hasn’t mysteriously gone away. It is still there, and with all of the variants that are out there, it well could rear its ugly head again.
Hasch said that everything she hears indicates that national experts are still suggesting masks. She asked Garnas if it was really advisable to take away the mandate.
“In a perfect world, an apolitical world, a world where people aren’t maybe as upset about it as they are, yes, I think we would probably continue to wear masks,” Garnas said.
Lambertz said that he knows that the mitigation strategies that have been applied to slow the spread of COVID-19 have worked, but he struggles with them being mandated.
“I struggle with the reach of government to mandate that, while still full well knowing that if we rescind the mandate, that the number of people that continue to engage in the mitigation strategies that have been successful in reducing this are going to diminish significantly,” Lambertz said. “We know this works. I would love to be able to say that we will be able to maintain our efforts to this despite being told to do so. I don’t want to be in a position to tell people to do so. But I do worry that without that we will go back to licking door knobs and gathering as if this thing has disappeared.”
Wentz said that she had talked to a number of people on Wednesday, most of which she said are in the older category, and they didn’t want the mask mandate rescinded.
“They don’t want it rescinded because they feel safer now to be out and spend money and go to restaurants,” Wentz said.
Following a lengthy discussion, the commission voted 3-2 to rescind the ordinance.
In other action taken during the meeting, the commission approved vacating a portion of an undeveloped Lawn Street right-of-way.
Vacating the right-of-way was recommended by the Planning Commission.
Dan Winkle, representing adjacent property owners, petitioned the city to vacate a portion of the right-of-way adjacent and abutting their property at 217 Court Street. The portion being vacated has an existing communication hub building on it on which the owners are working towards expansion with another building.
There has been a lot split application approved, pending the partial street vacation, for the property to become a separate taxable lot owned by Cunningham Communications.