‘A necessity to reopen,’ commissioner says

Commissioner Melissa McKinlay said she was swayed by the stories of desperation. With a broken unemployment system, the county commission couldn’t continue to deny people a way to earn a living, she said.

“I look at it as a necessity to reopen,” McKinlay said. “We have too many families who have lost their jobs and are facing the inability to take care of their families. State and federal assistance never came. Local government was forced into a decision — either have a mom who can’t feed her kids or reopen.”

Margo Keck, who owns a jewelry store in North Palm Beach, held back tears during the public comment portion of the commission’s May 8 meeting. She told commissioners she’d gone 50 days without receiving any revenue from her business and was unable to tap into government assistance. Her savings were exhausted, she said.

“I stand before you as a broken woman,” Keck told the commission. “There is nowhere for me to turn. I am depleted financially, emotionally, physically and mentally. … My business, my livelihood has been deemed nonessential by the state of Florida and the county of Palm Beach.”

Other business owners shared similar stories, expressing anger that big-box retailers and liquor stores stayed open while their small familyowned shops were forced to close.

Matthew Morgan wrote to the county mayor that his family’s small business had gone more than two months without income, yet politicians continued to collect their paychecks while making appearances with fresh haircuts. He titled his email “Shame on You.”

“Less than 1% of the population is affected, so your wonderful idea is to punish the rest of us,” he wrote. ” I can not understand what is going on.”

County Mayor Dave Kerner found himself defending his haircut in one public meeting, telling the audience that his mother had cut his hair.

Government funds have arrived to provide some assistance to small businesses. Palm Beach County received $60 million to offer grants of up to $25,000 to small businesses that were forced to close because of the pandemic.

Others blasted county commissioners for opening before the rest of South Florida. Palm Beach County — home to a large population of older residents — has recorded more than 300 deaths from the virus. Its coronavirus death rate is higher than neighboring Broward County, which has a younger population but stayed locked down longer.

“An excess of caution, attendance to the needs of the most vulnerable, and putting human life first and business sector second means shutting down the voices of (the) Fox News bubble,” Karen Leader, a Boca Raton resident, wrote.

Commissioner Hal Valeche said he supported reopening based on the availability of hospital beds in the county. The lockdown wasn’t intended to stop all infections — instead it was supposed to flatten the curve and spare the health care system from being overloaded, he said.

Valeche said pressure from business groups and the public wasn’t a driving force in his decision.

“I respect the public’s opinion, but they elected me to make the decisions. And I made them based on data,” he said. “You always listen to what your constituents are saying, but at the end of the day, the data has to be what drives your decisions.”

The county, though, wasn’t meeting the federal government’s guidelines when commissioners voted to recommend the governor allow Palm Beach County businesses to start reopening. When Palm Beach County voted May 5 to enter the first phase of reopening, going into effect on May 11, it had not seen a downward trend in new infections.

Valeche said the county was testing more, which was detecting more cases, so he focused more on other metrics, such as hospitalizations.