James City County finds itself in a difficult spot.
As of Tuesday, the county remains to have one of the highest positive cases of coronavirus in the state at 37; Williamsburg has 5, York County, 6 and Newport News, 3, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
The death toll in Virginia stands at 7 – one in Fairfax County, one in Virginia Beach and 5 in the Peninsula Health District.
Virginia, as of Tuesday, has 290 positive coronavirus cases.
During a Board of Supervisors work session Tuesday, supervisors heard reports from county departments about the local emergency actions and passed an emergency resolution for continuity of government.
County Attorney Adam Kinsman said the resolution allows the board to meet through an online basis for emergency meetings only. This allows limitation on person-to-person contact in the boardroom and can take effect for a period of six months once it is re-adopted at the next meeting.
For the online meetings, residents will have the opportunity to provide written comments to the board. There is also the possibility for residents to provide audio comments to a dedicated voicemail that will be associated with the meeting.
Meetings items that are considered non-emergency can be postponed to a later date.
The resolution also calls for the suspension of a number of normal county operations, including many activities related to employment.
That means a freeze in hiring, promoting, transferring and other job changes for current employees among other things. The resolution also suspends parts of the county’s compensation plan which allow for flexibility in setting wages for employees and suspends the pay discrepancy complaint complaint process timelines.
The timeline for resolving discrimination and harassment claims has also been suspended.
The changes have also created a new timeline for the county’s deadlines. Every deadline will be multiplied by three. For example, a deadline that would previously have been five days will now be extended to 15 days.
The resolution also provides a line of succession for managers of various county departments should they become ill. Kinsman said this is important because typically each position would have to be individually verified by the board and creating this new line of succession cuts down on the time it would require.
Prior to the session, the James City County Board of Directors passed a new ordinance that would make similar changes to staffing procedures and operations for the James City Service Authority.
The Board of Directors is composed of supervisors as as a way to better coordinate with the Authority on county projects.
During its regular meeting Tuesday, the board passed a resolution to affirm the emergency staffing plan and authorizations to address the local emergency.
Doug Powell, the Authority’s general manager, said the resolution simply affirms actions that he has already taken such as establishing that customers will not be disconnected from service during the emergency time and ordering members of the public to refrain from entering public Authority buildings.
County presentations
Supervisors also received presentations from various county departments.
Fire Chief Ryan Ashe said the department is still continuing to update its communications procedures but is struggling to update the public on information regarding positive coronavirus cases due to HIPPA regulations.
He also said the department is continuing to monitor its inventory of personal protective equipment or PPE and has placed orders for more equipment which is expected to be delivered in the coming weeks.
While Virginia did receive a portion of the Strategic National Stockpile, many of the resources were distributed to hospitals and health care facilities with only a limited supply being available to EMS services, the chief said.
For now, EMS professionals are continuing to attend to calls while wearing respirators and protective masks as much as possible. Ashe said while none of the staff have been confirmed to have the virus, there were some employees that had to be quarantined for a time period after interacting with a local that was later found positive.
James City County Police Chief Bradley Rinehimer said his department is focusing its efforts on patrols and investigations.
In accordance with Gov. Ralph Northam’s order banning groups larger than 10, Rinehimer said officers have been breaking up groups when they see them and investigating areas that are reported to have more than 10 people. When there are large groups, he said officers try to have individuals voluntarily comply with the order but if they don’t, then legal action can be taken against them.
“Obviously we do not want to take people to jail for this, that’s not our goal,” he said.
Rebecca Vinroot, director of social services, said many of the programs are seeing a spike in applications and that she expects the numbers will continue to grow. The department is currently compiling information for residents about what benefits are available to them and how to apply as well as working with community partners to make sure resources are available to those in need
In regards to childcare, she said many facilities in the area are staying open and information regarding those options will be distributed in the next few days.
Latara Rouse, communications manager, said the communications operations will pivot from the typical social media and website operations to try and reach a portion of the community that might not have access to the internet. This means disseminating information through “citizen guides” and printed information that can be accessed at various locations throughout the county.
The next Board of Supervisors meeting will be at 4 p.m. on April 14.
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