County Commissioners Rock Meeks, Lilly Rooks, Chairman Matt Brooks, John Meeks and Mike Joyner are spread out across the auditorium stage for Tuesday’s emergency board meeting. Seated out front is Dave Peaton, assistant director of emergency management who operated the conference phone system.

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Levy County Commissioners Tuesday approved an emergency order closing two county parks, Blue Springs and Henry Beck Park, but left all the county boat ramps and other county parks open as they balanced the need for recreation with their efforts to stop the spread of the Coronavirus.

            Blue Springs Park and Henry Beck Park are swimming areas that tend to draw large crowds of people when the warmer summer months arrive, something the county has always embraced in the past but is now discouraging in an effort to tamp down the spread of the deadly virus.

            The board administratively closed the big dock at the Cedar Key waterfront for the time being.  The closing took place before the meeting. Commissioner Lilly Rooks tossed out the idea of adding the big dock to the list of facility closings, but County Attorney Anne Bast Brown said it would be best to leave the dock closed administratively. Brown said the dock can then reopen whenever the city removes its barricades on State Road 24 by municipal order.

            “When the order is lifted by Cedar Key, that will immediately rescind our administrative order,” said Commission Chairman Matt Brooks.

            The commission approved an emergency order prohibiting all gatherings of more than 10 people, but with numerous exceptions to the rule including churches and county government boards. The churches and boards can continue meet so long as visitors keep six feet of distance between themselves and the nearest person, a practice known as social distancing.

            The board said family reunions and even pool parties would be allowed as long as the events are held at single household or living unit, but all festivals have been cancelled to prevent of the spread of the Coronavirus through the gathering of large crowds.

            Among the other exceptions to the emergency order creating the 10-person limit – the order doesn’t apply to essential goods and services including grocery stores, facilities providing health care to humans or animals, gas stations and banks or credit unions. It doesn’t apply to gatherings of people performing essential services including all government services and functions; food production, distribution and sale; construction projects, building management and maintenance; operation and maintenance of utilities, including water, sewer gas and electric; public transportation, road construction and maintenance; cyber security operations; flood control, solid waste and recycling collection, removal and telecommunications systems.

            The board met at the former Bronson School Auditorium behind the Levy County Courthouse rather than at its usual place on the first floor of the Levy County Courthouse. The county is in the process of converting the former school to an office complex. The auditorium is large enough to accommodate a maximum crowd of 30 visitors when social distancing is used to separate everyone by six feet. Even the board members tried to space themselves by several feet. Signs were taped to the back of auditorium seats to indicate where people could sit. One man from the health department arrived late and tried to sit where there wasn’t sign and was directed by Brooks to find a marked seat. He complied.

            Commissioners agreed to continue using the format employed at Tuesday’s meeting for next Tuesday’s board meeting. The board allowed people to call a designated phone number with an access code and listen to the meeting. But the phone wasn’t designed for conference calls and Spotlight readers called to say they couldn’t hear the conversation well. The board said an actual conference phone would be used for the next meeting.

            The board did not use microphones and speakers but indicated they would try to install a makeshift voice amplification system. The eventual plan, if the board continues to use the auditorium for meetings, is to install a sound and recording system to capture all conversations. The board has never been receptive to the idea of placing a video camera in their board meeting room to capture their conversations and images.

            Brown and County Coordinator Wilbur Dean will develop a special set of rules for the Planning and Zoning Board, Board of Adjustment and other appointed boards. Brooks was authorized to sign off on the new set of rules for the appointed boards when they are completed. The rules are being developed as part of the State of Emergency declared by the board two weeks ago.

            Levy County almost seemed immune to the Coronavirus until the Levy County Health Department announced last week that two Bronson area residents had tested positive for Covid-19, the disease caused by a Coronavirus infection. The federal medical privacy law, HIPAA, prevents the release of any information identifying the two victims, but that hasn’t stopped some residents from speculating on where the victims might live, according to Levy County Emergency Management Director John MacDonald.

            “We are doing testing; the health department is doing testing; people are coming in and blowing up the phones in our office wanting to know where these individuals live,” MacDonald said. “We can’t give that out. We don’t know that information. The health department gives us this information. The only thing they give us is the area – Bronson.”

            MacDonald said municipal libraries, which are operated by the county, remain open.

            “I talked to the library director. They’re allowing two to three people to go in. They have hand sanitizer. They are wiping everything down,” MacDonald said.

            Rumor control has been challenging. MacDonald said rumors are “flying everywhere.” He said Assistant Emergency Management Director Dave Peaton is running down a lot of the rumors, often circulated on social media.

            “We get them and track them down. Well, they say, I know this individual here has it. They say we hear in certain government facilities people have tested positive. There are all kinds of rumors around. The information we have is there is only two positive cases in Levy County, so those rumors really need to be squashed,” MacDonald said.

            MacDonald asked commissioners to pass along any rumors they hear.

            “We’ll try to track it down – what’s factual, what’s not. There are a lot of rumors going around and its scaring people. I stated the first time when I saw you all, we’re going to scare ourselves into poverty if we don’t stop what we’re doing and use some common-sense measures,” MacDonald said. “I think we’re using a lot of common sense measures now because we’re doing the things we need to be doing without shutting down the whole gosh darn country. Some things work, some don’t.”

            He expressed high praise for the businesses of the county that he said are going above and beyond what is required of them to meet state and federal social distancing guidelines.

            “Most of the business I’ve encountered in the county, they’re actually doing rather well considering what was sent out about what needs to be done as far as restaurants and take out and convenience stores and gas stations,” MacDonald said. “Those are business owners; what you see going on out there, what you see is above and beyond. We’re not doing that, that’s the business owners taking on their own responsibility and doing what they want.”

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Board of County Commission Emergency Session March 31, 2020; Posted March 31, 2020