Brawley council eyes expedited re-opening

BRAWLEY – Brawley City Council members on Tuesday advocated for an expedited roadmap to allow the re-opening of many businesses shuttered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Their remarks were directed at representatives of the county Public Health Department and local Chamber of Commerce who provided presentations during the council’s regular meeting, held virtually.

Currently, the county is developing a phased roadmap for the reopening of businesses, with those non-essential sectors that have limited contact between employees and patrons scheduled to resume operations Friday.

Though a more widespread resumption of commercial operations is being considered as part of the county roadmap’s Phase 2, council members here asked whether some discretion could be used to include more businesses in the initial re-opening phase.

“I still believe we’re delaying the opening of businesses that could be open right now,” said Councilman Sam Couchman.

Though the city may not have as much commercial activity as other Valley locales, the pandemic has had no less a negative effect here, and which could be mitigated by allowing businesses to safely resume activities by adopting best practices similar to essential businesses, Couchman said.

Currently, the county is still awaiting guidance from the state regarding the speed at which counties can authorize additional nonessential business sectors to resume operations.

The county is also advocating at the state level to be given the discretion to authorize the re-opening of a wider swath of businesses sooner than later, said Jeff Lamoure, county Environmental Health Services deputy director.

“We’re going to push where we can,” Lamoure said.

Lamoure emphasized that in order for any sort of re-opening to take place, businesses must clearly understand the basic level of precautions they must employ.

The county is currently working in collaboration with local cities and chambers of commerce to develop the roadmap’s Phase 2, which would allow for the re-opening of those business sectors identified as having a higher risk of potential exposure.

Phase 2 of the roadmap is expected to soon be finalized and potentially certified by the county’s public health officer, Janette Angulo, Public Health Department director, told the council.

Once certified, the Phase 2 roadmap would then go before the county Board of Supervisors for possible approval and ultimately sent to the state, which is not required to approve it in order for it to be implemented.

There is currently no timeframe by when Phase 2 may be adopted locally, officials said.

During the Brawley Chamber of Commerce’s presentation to the council, Executive Director Katie Luna said the chamber’s planned events continue to remain cancelled for the foreseeable future.

Already it had to cancel its Great Taco Showdown last month, as well as Monday’s mega-mixer commemorating Cinco de Mayo, while its annual Branding Iron Gala has been postponed.

Ongoing conversations with rodeo officials are attempting to determine whether the rodeo circuit will be operational this year, allowing the Cattle Call Rodeo to take place.

“It would be so disheartening if we didn’t have a year with Cattle Call,” Luna said.

The chamber has been busy providing assistance and referrals to its members. The IV Business Recovery Task Force, of which Luna is a member, is also providing similar services and resources to impacted businesses countywide.

The Brawley chamber’s membership has seen some limited success with the federal Paycheck Protection Program, which provides loans designed to help small businesses keep their workers on payroll. Of those that have applied, about 60 percent have been approved.

“We have seen quite a few businesses from the chamber apply,” Luna said.

The task force is currently conducting a survey of countywide businesses to determine their success with such assistance programs, whether they have had to shut down and lay off workers, and which steps have been deployed to re-open.

The survey is expected to be completed in a few weeks and subsequently shared with stakeholders.

A major concern for the chamber is having businesses re-open without the proper precautions in place which in turn could subject them to potential liability in the event a patron is exposed to COVID-19.

The chamber is also looking at identifying local and out-of-county enterprises that could retool their operations to help provide personal protective gear or essential cleaning and sanitizing supplies, Luna said.