Board shortens agenda; city director tests positive
The Hot Springs Board of Directors had a quorum Tuesday night but lacked the five members needed to consider the two ordinances on the agenda.
The four directors who were in board chambers amended the agenda, removing ordinances requesting commercial zoning for a vacant lot on Mill Creek Road and amending the short-term residential business ordinance the board adopted in May.
City Manager Bill Burrough said a family emergency prevented District 6 Director Steve Trusty from attending Tuesday night’s meeting. He said District 2 Director Elaine Jones was recovering from a hospital stay unrelated to COVID-19.
District 1 Director Erin Holliday tested positive for COVID-19, receiving the test results shortly before the meeting. Holliday said she’s fully vaccinated.
The positive test was the result of a breakthrough infection that manifested Sunday night in “severe joint pain.”
“(Monday) I was very fatigued and had tightness in my upper respiratory tract,” she said Wednesday. “These symptoms escalated throughout the day, so I scheduled a drive-through test for Tuesday afternoon, which came back positive. I am taking medication to help my breathing and aches. At this time I don’t feel that my symptoms will warrant further medical attention.”
Five directors are needed to carry a motion suspending the rule requiring an ordinance be read in its entirety at three meetings before it can be adopted. The two ordinances could have been read for the first time Tuesday night, but five directors are needed to suspend the rule and advance an
ordinance to the floor for debate.
Prior to Tuesday’s meeting, City Attorney Brian Albright proposed an ordinance amending the virtual attendance policy the board adopted in August, allowing remote voting via Zoom for 90 days.
“Because the COVID and the variant issue are becoming more prevalent, we were going to suggest an amendment to the remote attendance ordinance, but we couldn’t add that to the agenda because we didn’t have five,” Albright, noting that four directors can amend the agenda but five are needed to add to it, said Wednesday.
The current policy limits the remote option to meetings held during a public health emergency as declared by executive order of the governor. The 60-day emergency the governor declared in July expired at the end of September, ending the remote option for city directors.
The four directors who were present adopted the consent agenda and the two condemnation resolutions under new business. They also heard a presentation from For Our Roads Now Committee Chairman Chris Polychron.
Burrough told the board 23 city employees were unable to work Tuesday because of positive COVID tests. Last week he reinstated the city’s mask mandate, requiring face coverings be worn inside city buildings. Garland County’s rolling seven-day average of new cases has risen 250% since Christmas.
“With omicron, who knows where we’ll be tomorrow?” he said in his city manager report. “We just ask your patience as we go through this. We are taking all the precautions we can. We may go back and do some alternative schedules to make sure that we have enough employees to do the city’s business and provide the services our citizens and visitors need.”