Sioux Falls ‘Stay at Home’ order will be an interesting City Council discussion and vote

As Mayor TenHaken said today, the city council will consider the first reading of a stay at home order on Wednesday but will have to wait until next Tuesday to implement it. We get a peek of what it looks like below and HERE (Items 22-34). I have a feeling the discussion on the ordinance Wednesday night (not on the normal Tuesday) will be high drama. At this point I think the council is split on the issue, but I do encourage them to at least pass a 1^st reading and if things change or get better by next Tuesday, they can just kill it or scale it back. I don’t think that is the case, I think by next Tuesday we will be in dire straits.

Many businesses are pounding on Councilors and the Mayor (mostly the self-employed) about not doing the order. I have argued with many councilors and business owners “If you can’t survive a 3 week closure of your business, you obviously 1) don’t have a good business model 2) don’t have a backup plan or savings for when these things occur. There has already been a stay home order in place pretty much for people who work in restaurants (wait staff) the elderly (65 and older) most public employees, teachers and students. Oh, and also covid patients that are not hospitalized. I’m not sure how all of these peeps can be forced to stay home, yet others cannot? But they can, as we will see (or not see).

I also remind businesses that there is Federal help available if you seek it. Many businesses I have talked to have taken advantage of the programs while still paying employees. You do have options.

While the stay at home orders are inconvenient, I have to remind people, until there is widespread testing of almost all of us, there is no safe way to work together in large groups. We can talk about possible treatments (the president invests in) expensive Cadillac ventilators (we are paying for, instead of effective cheaper models) and a vaccine that is probably over a year away, but let’s face it. There are only two ways to stop the spread at this point. Stay away from each other and ramp up testing, big time. Public health and safety should be our top priority, not whether the nation can have their BLT’s.

Here is the important part of the ordinance;

Section 1: Stay at Home Mandated

Effective immediately upon publication on April 24, 2020, residents of and visitors to Sioux Falls shall stay at home or a place of residence if possible, except to work in a critical infrastructure sector job or to conduct essential activities, both as defined herein.
A “critical infrastructure sector job” is one listed below or in the attachment to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Memorandum on Identification of Essential Critical Workers During COVID-19 Response, updated March 28, 2020, attached hereto as Exhibit A and incorporated herein by reference. The following are “critical infrastructure sector jobs” for purposes of this Ordinance:
• Construction workers who support the construction, operation, inspection, and maintenance of construction sites and construction projects (including housing construction)
• Workers such as plumbers, electricians, exterminators, and other service providers who provide services that are necessary to maintaining the safety, sanitation, construction material sources, and essential operation of construction sites and construction projects
• Professional services, such as legal or accounting services, insurance services, real estate services (including appraisal, home inspection, and title services), and veterinary services, inclusive of support staff.
• Employees of biotech companies
• Employees of financial institutions such as banks, credit unions, and insurance companies For purposes of this Ordinance, homes or places of residence include apartments, hotels, motels, shared rental units, dormitories, shelters, long-term care facilities, and similar facilities where a person may presently reside.

This of course covers a wide range of workers, in fact, I would argue unless you are making toy trains or whirly gigs, you are pretty much an essential worker – few workers will be affected. Amazingly, at my employer, while over half of us are already working from home, we probably fit in 3-4 different categories above, and ONE for sure.

I also find this ‘tif’ between Paul and his Snow Queen a bit interesting, especially when this juicy tidbit just came out today;

The source — who has been at the highest level of Republican politics — said Noem is making such a mess of things that she if she doesn’t land a job with Trump, she may face a strong primary challenge in 2022.

Among those who might take her on? Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken, who is frustrated with Noem’s failure to lead during the COVID-19 crisis, when he has asked her to declare a statewide shelter-in-place order.

Another dismal of a failure Sioux Falls Mayor looking to be king of the state, while he has to rely on the city council to bail his ass out with a watered down ordinance that doesn’t take affect (April 24th) until half of the town is already infected. Thanks!