Kuhn returns to supervisors meeting, recommends actions against COVID-19

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A former supervisor returned to the Floyd County Board of Supervisors meeting this week, again confronting the current board about what he called a failure to follow its own policy regarding COVID-19 precautions.

Mark Kuhn, who was a supervisor from 1993 to 1998 and again from 2011 to 2018, was at a Board of Supervisors special meeting Monday morning after a similar appearance the week before.

After a sometimes contentious discussion with the board that lasted for more than a hour, Kuhn recommended that the board enforce a policy it had passed requiring anyone entering a county facility to fill out a COVID-19 screening form, that it hire people to staff the entry door of the courthouse to enforce the requirement and to help people fill out the form, and that the board pass a mandatory mask policy for everyone in the courthouse.

[Kuhn statement, Nov. 30, 2020]

If the board didn’t do those things, he said, then in light of greatly increased numbers of COVID-19 cases in the county, it should lock the doors to the courthouse, as had been done near the beginning of the pandemic.

The board took no action on any COVID-19-related issues at the special meeting Monday.

At the beginning of the discussion, Kuhn said he had read through the minutes of each of 44 Board of Supervisors meetings held since the beginning of the pandemic.

He then went through individual highlights of 26 of those meetings that dealt with COVID-19 discussions or actions, pointing especially to board action on March 30, near the start of the pandemic, that set a policy for screening employees and visitors entering the courthouse.

Kuhn said the policy required that “all individuals (visitors and employees) entering the courthouse and any other county facility must sign in and answer six questions written to determine if the individual has any symptoms associated with COVID-19. If so, they will be denied entry to the building.”

He said the action plan approved by the board was “very timely” and “pro-active.”

The problem, he said, is the policy is not being followed.

“Everyone at today’s meeting knows the COVID-19 screening checklist is largely ignored and not enforced,” he said.

Supervisor Chairman Roy Schwickerath said, “The history you gave us we all know because we’ve lived it. Believe me, it isn’t ever, ever taken lightly by the board. … Could we do something better? Well, we could all just stay at home and nobody move and that would be the best thing we could do. We all know that. … But we also have to figure out a balance between how to function and how to get through this.”

County Auditor Gloria Carr said the screening form is being used, within the different offices in the courthouse when people are going to be in the offices for more than 15 minutes.

But, Carr said, they had been advised by Floyd County Public Health Administrator Gail Arjes that they shouldn’t require the form of people who were only making brief visits, because the action itself of filling out the form required them to spend extra time in the courthouse.

Supervisor Linda Tjaden said, “I care about these numbers. We all do. … Every day that I’m seeing these numbers go up I look for ways that we can make improvements, and I think we all have. … It’s our duty to continue to look at ways that we can make improvements, and that’s why we’re working so closely with Gail, too, and trying to do our part.”

Supervisor Doug Kamm said, “Your little rendition just proved that we talk about it every single meeting. It’s been on the agenda topics since the day it started. But you’ve got to remember that we’ve got “X” number of departments … we can’t make a blanket thing that we’re just shutting down the courthouse.”

Tjaden said she had visions of the “horrible bottleneck” of people who gathered at the entrance to the courthouse when the door was locked at the beginning of the pandemic, waiting to be let into individual offices or to drop off materials at the entrance.

“They weren’t social distancing,” she said.

Schwickerath said, “Going back to locking our main door, I understand why our departments don’t want us to do that, because to them, it was very difficult to operate their departments doing that, and at this point I don’t think they see the value in that. I’m not sure I do, either.

“We have cut down the traffic in the courthouse. We have people who do make more appointments. We’ve got people that respect their distances,” he said, adding that departments had added barriers and set up distancing requirements and occupancy limits.

Kuhn said, “I’ve listened to the four of you talk for 15 minutes without addressing the crucial issue.”

The board ordered the department heads and elected officials to ensure that employees and visitors to the courthouse fill out the screening form before they enter the building, he said.

“Yet, we all understand you don’t do that. I heard you talk about when they get to your office you hand them a piece of paper, and you make them sign it. The order, and the sign that’s posted out there, states, ‘Stop! Before entry to the building you must fill out this checklist.’ You haven’t addressed that.

“I see nothing on your board of supervisor minutes that says you rescinded the motions,” Kuhn said.

Schwickerath said, “Maybe the mistake we made was putting those forms at the door and expecting people to fill them out. Maybe the real solution is those forms should be located in each office, and as they come into the office they’re expected to fill them out. And that’s what’s happened a lot of times.”

He said the forms were put at the entry initially because the courthouse was locked, and it was expected that visitors who entered the courthouse would be escorted by an employee who could make sure they filled out the form.

Kuhn said, “I appreciate the discussion, but every time you refer to something it leads me back to the original point that the original resolution and the safety protocol have never been properly followed. And still exists. It’s really troubling to hear you give these excuses.”

Tjaden said, “They’re not excuses, Mark. We’re telling you what we’re doing.”

Kuhn responded, “I think when the general public learns what you are not doing, that they will consider them excuses.”

Slamming his hand on the table, Kuhn said, “How can you sit there and tell me with a straight face that you are doing everything correct? I’m pleading, folks. I see four faces looking back at me that are not getting the basic picture here.”

After more back and forth, Kuhn said he wanted to move on to something more positive and talk about recommendations.

The first, he said, is to enforce the policy requiring screening, and to do that he suggested the county use some of the almost $200,000 it qualified for in CARES Act relief to hire as many people as it would take to staff the front door and require everyone to fill out the screening form and help them do it.

Tjaden said the board had discussed that.

Kuhn said, “You talked about it. You talk about a lot of things. It’s obvious. You talk and talk and talk. …”

Tjaden said Arjes, the county incident commander for COVID-19 response, has told them they are acting correctly.

“We follow her direction. We listen to what’s going on. … I trust her judgment. She’s assured us, based on everything she has guided us to do and to follow, that we’re still doing the right thing,” Tjaden said.

Saying he was “tired of pointing out mistakes,” Kuhn said he wanted to get back to recommendations, and added that this was the last time he would attend a board meeting to address his concerns.

“Good,” said Kamm.

Reacting to that, Kuhn said some people think he still is a supervisor, and contact him about county issues, and people have contacted him about the COVID-19 issue since a story about last week’s meeting was published in the Press.

His next recommendation, he said, was for the board to immediately implement a mask mandate in the entire courthouse.

“You can do that. It’s a simple step,” Kuhn said.

He said that at the meeting last week he had asked the board members and the auditor to lead by example and wear masks in the board meeting, even though they were maintaining a 6-foot separation.

Schwickerath was wearing a mask at the meeting this week, as he has been doing lately, but addressing the other two supervisors and the auditor, Kuhn said, “I see none of you are doing it.”

“The people of Floyd County are used to going into public facilities with masks,” Kuhn said. “The situation is dire. It is changing. Many places have shut down. Until you get on top of this locally and ensure the residents of Floyd County and anyone who visits this courthouse and any other county facility that it is a safe place, it will get worse. …

“Enforce – a – mask – mandate,” he said, punctuating each word with a knock on the table. “It will protect people. Use the sound science that we know to be true. You could do it today.”

A little later, after Kuhn had concluded, Schwickerath said, “OK. So now I can speak, Mark. I want to say thank you. I served with you. I’ve known you for quite many years, so I do respect your opinion, and we will continually work on this, and we will take your comments for our discussions.

“I’m not going to tell you that we’re absolutely going to follow everything that you want us to do, because we have to make those decisions, just like you used to make them when you sat here,” Schwickerath said. “But thank you. I do appreciate it. OK? We’re going to keep moving on, but thank you very much.”