Council to consider vax mandate, utility rates, budget

 

Last updated 11/10/2021 at 8:45am



Coulee Dam’s city council will consider a proposed vaccine mandate for employees tonight as part of its regular meeting at 6 p.m. in a meeting open via phone or an online service only.

The issue was raised a council meeting a month ago and discussed again two weeks later.

Tonight (Wednesday) the council has a drafted resolution to pass, reject or alter.

The city of just over 1,000 must grapple with some of the same possibilities other agencies have: that requiring vaccination against the coronavirus, which has been made into a political hot topic, can disrupt the services the government is supposed to deliver.

This week, the state Dept. of Transportation warned the public it may not be able to plow snow off the state’s roadways as quickly as people expect because it lost employees over the mandate imposed by Gov. Inslee and the Dept. of Health. The State Patrol lost over 70 officers. And the reportedly highest-paid employee in the state, the head football coach at Washington State University, got fired for his refusal to get the jab.

Two weeks ago, Councilmember Kevin Black expressed concerns that the city’s small volunteer fire department could lose members, or that its contracted electrical line repair service from Nespelem Valley Electric, which he manages, might not be able to answer in a power outage if the city requires employees, and anyone else working for the city, to be vaccinated.

Councilmember Dale Rey, who sees the issue as one of basic safety of employees and the public they serve, suggested those points about volunteers and contractors might be negotiable, based on common sense and an understanding of their expected interaction with the public.

In fact, the resolution to be considered tonight exempts volunteers and contractors but leaves room for the city to impose stricter regulations later.

Its current language would require employees to be vaccinated, effective upon passage but would be subject to good faith bargaining with employee unions.

The meeting can be attended via a teleconference line at 712-832-8330 and entering access code 3628159.

The council will also hold an annual Ad Valorem/Property Tax Revenue Hearing and a hearing on the preliminary 2022 budget.

 

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