Commissioners discuss county employees and COVID-19 vaccine

ELYRIA — Commissioners laid the groundwork Wednesday on a plan to ensure that any county employees who want the COVID-19 vaccine can get it in the coming months. Commissioners directed County Administrator Tom Williams to reach out to county department heads and work with Lorain County Public Health to figure out which county employees desire COVID-19 vaccinations. Commissioner Dave Moore said he had "a serious problem with employers forcing people to take vaccinations" and that he worried about HIPAA law violations, safety and privacy issues but hoped Williams could come up with a plan within the next 60 days. Commissioner Matt Lundy said he simply wanted to conduct a survey to find out which county employees were interested in getting vaccinations and that he was "not requiring" them. Williams said he already has had discussions on the issue, so as to keep employees' wishes private "so you don't have individuals who don't get vaccines get shamed for not getting vaccines." He said he also was looking at how to stagger the rollout for vaccinations so that all doses aren't delivered at a single time. In administrative matters the commission's legal counsel, Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Dan Petticord, also settled a week-old dispute over the proper time and place to put motions before the body. Lundy and Commissioner Michelle Hung had disagreed at their Feb. 17 meeting about the official process of making motions before the board, with Hung saying Lundy was out of order when he made a motion during the "commissioners' report" section of the meeting. Petticord sided with Hung on the matter, saying his reading of Robert's Rules was that it was not appropriate for commission members to make motions during or after their reports following the close of old and new business on the agenda. He said commission members, who have adopted Robert's Rules to conduct their meetings, may make a motion when they hold the floor "and no other question is pending and business of the kind is in order." "In that respect, in my opinion, the chair was correct, Commissioner Hung was correct," Petticord said. "It was correct to rule the motion out of order when it was made in the report phase of the agenda." Lundy told his fellow commissioners that he welcomes "any questions or comments you have when I provide a report so we can have a transparent conversation about it." "I certainly welcome any questions, I certainly welcome any concerns, and I feel that it's important if I bring up a topic or my colleagues bring up a topic we should be able to discuss those here in the open forum because that's they way government business is supposed to be," he said. In other business, commissioners entered into a contract with the engineering K.E. McCartney & Associates to prepare plans for an extension of sanitary sewers south on Broadway to the south side of state Route 2 near the Amherst Township/Elyria Township border. Future sewer expansion will be funded by a tax increment financing or TIF agreement established by the former commission last year during planning for the future Carvana distribution center going up on the former Spiegelberg Orchard property, in order to generate revenue for future infrastructure improvements. They also approved a cooperation agreement between the county and the city of Elyria for an Ohio Public Works Commission application for $391,382 to repair and resurface Lowell Street between state Route 113 and the Conrail overpass in the city and Elyria Township. The city will be the lead on the project with the OPWC paying $307,900 or 79 percent of the project cost, the city paying $55,682 and the county either $27,799 or 7 percent of the cost, whichever is lesser. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.