WHEREAS,    COVID-19, a respiratory disease that spreads easily from person to person and may result in serious illness or death, has been confirmed in Kansas; and,

WHEREAS,    a State of Disaster Emergency was proclaimed by Governor Laura Kelly for the State of Kansas on March 12, 2020; and,

WHEREAS,    on March 13, 2020, the President of the United States declared COVID19 a national emergency; and,

WHEREAS,    on March 19, 2020, the Board of County Commissioners of Sherman County, Kansas, declared a state of local health emergency in Sherman County, Kansas; and,

WHEREAS,    the health, safety, and welfare of persons within the City of Goodland and the employees of the City of Goodland are of critical importance and are endangered by the threat and spread of COVID-19; and

WHEREAS,    the governing body, desires to protect the public health, safety and welfare by making temporary changes to City procedures in response to COVID-19.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF GOODLAND, KANSAS:

SECTION 1.   Temporary Suspension of Physical Public Attendance.

• Pursuant to K.S.A. 75-4318(a), “…all meetings for the conduct of the affairs of, and the transaction of business… shall be open to the public and no binding action by such bodies shall be by secret ballot…” and K.A.R. 16-20-1, which states “any public body or agency may comply with the requirement of K.S.A. 75-4318(a) and amendments thereto, that a meeting be ‘open to the public’ through the use of a telephone or other medium for interactive communication…”, the City Commission temporarily suspends physical public attendance at all City meetings, outside of City Commissioners, board members and the staff essential to conduct the meeting.

• The City Commission directs the City Manager to develop a method of displaying City meetings so that the meeting remains open, with the public still able to observe and/or hear the meeting through the use of a telephone or other medium for interactive communication.

SECTION 2.   Temporary Suspension of Public Comments.

• Pursuant to Ordinance 1730, the City Commission provides an opportunity for real-time, live Open Public Comments at each meeting, and the City Commission provides an opportunity for public comment on each Commission agenda item. The City Commission temporarily suspends all real-time, live public comment during City Commission meetings, and extends this suspension to all other boards and public meetings of the City. Provided that, the temporary suspension does not apply to any mandatory or statutory processes requiring a public hearing.

• The City Commission directs the City Manager to publish the agenda items prior to the meeting and provide a procedure for the public to submit comments on the items in writing prior to the meeting. The City Manager will compile the written comments submitted and read them at the meeting. Comments containing any of the following will not be allowed: profanity, obscenity, vulgarity, hate speech, defamation, name calling/personal attacks, spam comments, or other comments that the City Manager deems inappropriate.

• This Section only applies to the real-time, live public comment that is incorporated into City Commission meetings. Nothing contained herein shall be construed to limit or impact the public’s ability to provide comments or questions to the City Commissioners via phone, email, or other means provided by an individual City Commissioner.

SECTION 3. Authorization for Remote Participation in Public Meetings.

• Members of the City Commission, and members of all City boards and bodies, are expressly authorized to remotely attend and participate in their respective public meetings. A remote participant will provide reasonable notice of their intent to participate remotely to the City Manager or their staff liaison to allow time for necessary preparation. A remote participant must be capable of fully participating in the meeting and must be able to communicate with all other members of the body, staff, and others at the meeting.

• Remote participants act as full participants in public meetings, shall be considered present and in attendance, and may cast votes. When roll is called, the remote participant will be noted as “participating remotely” and the minutes, if taken, will reflect if and when remote participants leave the meeting. If a remote participant leaves the meeting, the meeting Chair may suspend discussion for up to three minutes to give the remote participant an opportunity to return, or instead, the Mayor may continue the meeting if a quorum remains. If, for any reason, the meeting loses its quorum or technical difficulties stop the meeting for more than ten minutes, the meeting shall be considered adjourned.

• Remote meetings shall comply, at all times, with the requirements of the Kansas Open Meetings Act and any orders of the Attorney General of the State of Kansas relating to remote meetings, until and unless KOMA and the orders suspended by the Governor or the Attorney General. While in effect, those laws and orders shall prevail in the event of a conflict between this Resolution and those laws and orders.

SECTION 4. Cancellation of Public Meetings.

The City Manager may cancel public meetings of the City when deemed necessary for the public health, safety and welfare.

SECTION 5. Effective Date and Duration.

This resolution shall take effect and be in force immediately upon its adoption and shall remain in effect until August 4, 2020 unless the City Commission takes additional action to extend or repeal such provisions.

PASSED AND ADOPTED this 6^th day of April, 2020 by the Governing Body of the City of Goodland, Kansas.

____________________________

John Garcia, Mayor

ATTEST:

__________________________

Mary P. Volk, City Clerk