Hillsborough Commission Cancels Weekly Coronavirus Meetings

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL — The Hillsborough County Commission voted at its regular board meeting Wednesday to cancel its weekly meetings for coronavirus updates.

Instead, the commission will discuss any issues related to the coronavirus pandemic at its regularly scheduled commission meetings held the first and third Wednesday of the month starting at 9 a.m.

The county commission has been meeting every Thursday at 1:30 p.m. since August to discuss coronavirus-related matters. Before that, the Emergency Policy Group composed of commissioners, the mayors of the county's three cities, the school board chairman and the sheriff, met twice a month since March 12 to discuss emergency measures related to the pandemic.

The commission voted to dissolve the EPG and handle emergency coronavirus issues itself, following the policy of Florida's other 66 counties.

See related story: Hillsborough County Commission Votes To Disband Emergency Group

County Administrator Bonnie Wise said she believes eliminating the Thursday coronavirus meetings is an appropriate transition as governmental bodies prepare to begin holding in-person meetings in November.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order allowing governments to continue holding remote meetings until Nov. 1 when he's asked local governments to return to their boardrooms.

The first in-person county commission meeting is set for Nov. 12 unless DeSantis extends the order to hold local meetings remotely.

"As we get ready to transition to the next phase of government meetings, I believe that we can be more efficient in the use of our human resources and still provide the information to the board and the public they have come to rely upon," said Wise.

"We now have so many resources available that we didn't have at the beginning of this pandemic, including our weekly report from emergency management, a robust website, support programs for individuals and businesses, easy email access for the public as well as a dashboard with daily updates, statistics and trends related to the virus in Hillsborough County," she said, adding that the county's dashboard has been a model for other governments.

"With all this information that is readily available and the ongoing demands on staff, it is my recommendation that, instead of a separate special meeting each week to address the emergency order, we incorporate this item into the regular BOCC meeting and have a standing agenda item for this purpose," Wise said.

On the weeks when there are no regular county commission meetings, the chairman of the commission or the county administrator is authorized under the county's emergency management ordinance to extend the board's orders, including the state of local emergency.

A state of local emergency can be in effect for only seven days, unless extended. The emergency declaration gives the county administrator and emergency managers the ability to quickly take certain actions to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the community, and allows the county to receive federal reimbursement of certain expenses.

She added that the county commission will still be able to call special meetings to address emergency coronavirus issues with a 24-hour notice.

Commissioner Kimberly Overman agreed that skipping the Thursday meetings would relieve county staff but added that it's important to set aside time to discuss coronavirus issues at regular commission meetings.

"Many of our citizens are very concerned about what's going on," she said. "Keeping that part of our regular meeting will allow many citizens to get the information that they need."

"I always hoped for several months this is what we'd move toward," said Commissioner Pat Kemp. "And thank you very much to Ms. Wise and the emergency team for putting this forward because it makes a lot of sense."

The commission voted 5-2 in favor of suspending the Thursday coronavirus meetings. Commissioners Ken Hagan and Stacy White voted against the motion. Neither made a statement on why they didn't support it.

Wise noted that residents will still have the ability to provide public comment on coronavirus concerns at each board meeting. The commission sets aside 45 minutes at the beginning of the regular meetings to hear from the public. The next Hillsborough County Commission meeting is Oct. 21 at 9 a.m.

Members of the public can sign up to speak by filling out a form at least 48 hours before the meeting.

In the meantime, the county commission agreed to keep its order mandating the use of face masks inside businesses in place.

Hillsborough County has experienced a 15.58 percent increase in positive cases during the past seven days although the case percentage is down 7.08 percent over a two-week period.

Since the pandemic was declared, 43,578 residents have tested positive and 37,883 residents have recovered from the coronavirus in Hillsborough County while 690 people have died.

Courtesy Hillsborough County Government