Walton County BCC Issues Local State of Emergency due to COVID-19 (Coronavirus); Other Actions Taken During the Emergency Walton County Board of County Commissioners (WCBCC) meeting held today, March 16, 2020, the WCBCC issued a Local State of Emergency (LSE). This LSE will be in place for seven days and must be re- issued on a weekly basis. In addition to the issuance of a LSE, the WCBCC has taken the following actions: • Cancellation of all BCC and TDC permitted outdoor events and beach activity ordinance special events. • Cancellation of all work-related travel outside the county for BCC employees without special permission from Director and County Administration. • Suspension of the rental of all public facilities. • Extended all current dog beach permits for 8 weeks. No new permit processing until June 1st. • Extended all driving on the beach permits until August 1st. Beach permit lottery application process will begin June 1st. • All Walton County Volunteer Board meetings have been cancelled for the remainder of March and the month of April. At this time, these meetings are expected to continue in May. The WCBCC took no action regarding the closure of Walton County’s beaches. The WCBCC encourages all Walton County citizens and visitors to be mindful and adhere to all direction distributed by the Florida Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control. Protect yourself and your community from COVID-19. Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom, before eating, and after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Avoid close contact with people who are sick, and stay home when you are sick. FDOH COVID-19 Information Page (Updated Regularly) CDC COVID-19 Information Page (Updated Regularly) We encourage all of those that have the ability, to conduct any county business through the County and Constructional Offices online services. Walton Board of County Commissioners District 1: Bill Chapman – Chairman District 2: Danny Glidewell District 3: Melanie Nipper District 4: Trey Nick – Vice-Chair District 5: Tony Anderson ### Information from other Walton County Constitutional Offices Walton County School District The Walton County School District is currently developing a plan to help feed students the week of March 23-27, our state mandated school closure. We know families and employees expected to be out March 16-20 for Spring Break and may be traveling safely to visit family and friends as anticipated. Therefore, we believe our students are in good hands with families this coming week. However, beginning the week of March 23-27, the WCSD is working on a plan for food distribution and service because as always we are committed to the health and safety of our students. Superintendent A. Russell Hughes states, “We do not want any Walton County Student to go without food.” On Monday, March 23, the WCSD will provide one meal for students, lunch, and starting Tuesday, March 24 through Friday, March 27, the WCSD will provide two meals a day, breakfast and lunch. Time and locations are being determined; we will release more detailed information as soon as plans have been solidified. Walton County Tax Collector • ID & DL Expiration dates extended 30 days per Governor’s Executive Order 20-52 – but does not apply to existing restrictions. • Registration renewals have not been extended at this time The following processes have been implemented for the safety of our citizens and employees and to allow ample time to properly clean and disinfect our offices. • Temporary suspension of all DL testing – includes, driving, written, interpreter, CDL, medicals • Temporary suspension of all Concealed Weapon transactions • Due to adjacent county tax collector office closures, we may have to limit the number of individuals in our lobbies. • We encourage people that do not need to physically be in our office to not come in. Most of our services are available through our website www.waltontaxcollector.com • Serving Walton County residents only. Walton County Sheriff’s Office In order to limit access and potential COVID-19 exposure to our citizens and to our staff and the inmate population; we will be temporarily suspending the use of our in-lobby video visitation monitors. Video visitation services will remain available for access via computer or mobile device to accommodate visits. In addition, we will be restricting civilian volunteer access for programming purposes until further notice. Finally, only those individuals who are statutorily obligated for registration and fingerprinting services will be permitted to enter the jail facility; and only after screening. Walton County Supervisor of Elections Florida has NOT suspended the election on Tuesday, March 17th. Polls will be open from 7am – 7pm as always. You must vote at your home precinct polling place. We will have sanitizing resources at each polling place and workers will be frequently cleaning surfaces. However, if you have your own hand sanitizer and feel the need to use it, I would encourage you to bring it! Also, you may wish to bring your own pen instead of using ours. Secrecy sleeves will be optional as well. When voting, observe the CDC-recommended distance (3-6 feet) from other individuals as much as possible. For more information, visit VoteWalton.com, or call (850) 892-8112. Walton County Property Appraiser’s Office The Walton County Property Appraiser’s Office is currently conducting normal operations while monitoring the status of COVID-19, also known as Corona Virus. The health and safety of our citizens and employees remains of utmost importance. We aim to continue to provide first-rate customer service at our office locations and encourage the use of the property appraiser’s website, www.waltonpa.com . You may contact the Property Appraiser’s office by phone, 850-892-8123, or 850-267-4500, or by email, waltonpa@co.walton.fl.us Walton County Clerk of Courts Due to the recent concerns with the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the recommendation for social distancing, Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles T. Canady issued an Administrative Order (AOSC20-13) on March 13, 2020, suspending all jury trials in Florida’s Court System starting Monday, March 16, 2020, through Friday, March 27, 2020. Anyone with a summons for jury duty dated between March 16, 2020, and March 27, 2020, are not required to appear as jury trials during this time have been cancelled. If you are unsure if your summons is impacted by this Order, please call 850-892-8115 to speak to a Deputy Clerk. Walton County Clerk & Comptroller will continue to mail out summons forms between March 16th and March 27th to avoid delay to future court processes once the suspension of all jury trials is lifted. If you receive a summons during this period, the Walton County Clerk & Comptroller recommends calling 850-892-8115 to confirm whether you are required to appear. All scheduled court hearings and appearances remain in effect unless specifically excused by the court. The Walton County Clerk and Comptroller’s Office is currently open to serve the public. Additionally, many Clerk services can be accomplished online and on the phone. The following services are offered online: • E-Notify – Using an automated system, registered users can receive free text and email reminders of upcoming criminal court events. More information is available on Clerk’s website home page. • Online Court Record Access – Public can request to view cases/redacted filings online. Please visit the Clerk’s website – select Public Records – then select Court Records. If a record is unavailable online, please follow further instructions specified under Public Records tab – then select Offline Public Record Request Court Related. • TurboCourt DIY Services – Customer fee-based form preparation service, currently $10.40 per petition, now available through TurboCourt for Family Law and Landlord Tenant Disputes; however, there are no fees required when using Turbo Court forms for preparation of Domestic Violence Injunction petitions. More information is available on Clerk’s website – select TurboCourt DIY. • Florida Courts E-Filing Portal – More information and instructions are available on the Clerk’s website – select E-Filing tab. The link is: https://www.myflcourtaccess.com/ • Self Service Forms and Instructions are located on the Clerk’s website – Select Court Services – then select Self Service. • Pay Walton County traffic citations online – Traffic infractions may be paid within 30 days of violation online at https://www.myfloridacounty.com/. • Pay Walton County non-criminal and county ordinance violations within 30 days of receipt online at https://www.myfloridacounty.com/courtpay/?county=66. Additional Information and Cancellations • Seaside closing some operations – https://us18.campaign- archive.com/?u=70034f1e917bdb0ebc322ba87&id=811dcf009b • Beginning March 16, the Bayou Arts Center will be closed and the CAA team will work remotely remaining available via email, phone and virtual meet-ups. • All meetings, classes and workshops at The Bayou Arts Center will be postponed and rescheduled for a later date. • The Foster Gallery at Grand Boulevard will be temporarily closed beginning March 16. • The Under the Sea fundraiser for the Underwater Museum of Art scheduled for Thursday, May 7 will be postponed for a later date. • ArtsQuest Fine Arts Festival scheduled for May 9 & 10 is rescheduled for October 10 & 11 in Grand Boulevard Town Center.   TRANSCRIPT OF LIVE STREAM Emergency Meeting- Board of County Commissioners- Mar 16 2020   Chairman: Come to order please. I want to welcome everybody to this emergency board meeting of the board of county commissioners. We’ll turn this over to Mr. Jones, and then they can reflect on more members present. Mr. Jones: Thank you Mr. Chairman. Welcome to everyone. We appreciate your participation in this meeting this afternoon. We’ve received many emails regarding today’s meeting. You know we had a meeting earlier today with the constitutional officers and a number of other members of the city taking the stand to have a frank discussion about where we move forward. Then minutes of that meeting are still being prepared, and they’ll be available for those. The bottom line is we want to make sure that we stay as far ahead of this crisis as we can. So, we’re going to make some recommendations to the board. Then we’ll give the opportunity to staff to mention anything that you may be aware of that we need to look at or take some action on. And then we’ll open it up to the public for public comments, and I think we’re still having trouble hearing. So, while we wait on that, Matt do you have those meetings and notes? Mic check. Hello. That working? Alright, maybe I moved too far away. Can you hear in the back? Alright. So, the first thing we want to recommend to the board is that we declare a local state of emergency, which will relax the procurement requirements, which will provide for reimbursement from FEMA and provides flexibility in cancelling non-essential public meetings. Chairman: Motion to declare a local state of emergency. Male Speaker: Second. Female Speaker: Second. Chairman: Motion to second. Any public comment? None. All in favor say aye.   All: Aye. Chairman: Motion carried. Mr. Jones: Okay, commissioners in front of you, you have a list, and we’re gonna do a number of these together for the sake of time, but we’re recommending that we suspend all employee out of county travel without special permission from the director and administration. We cancel and suspend all permitted outdoor events and beach activities, ordinance special events, that we suspend the rental of all county facilities, suspend driving on the beach permits until August the first, and then begin driving on the beach lottery process on June the first. that we extend dog on the beach permits by eight weeks, and that we take no new permit applications except until June first. And I’ll stop there, and we’ll talk about them separately. Our idea is to minimize contact to the public and staff to the best we can. We want to serve the public. We want to make sure we take care of their needs, but we believe most of these things are issues that will provide some protection as to our county staff and citizens. Male Speaker: Council, we ought to take a motion for items number two through six. Items two through six? Second. Public comment? All in favor say aye. All: Aye.   Male Speaker: Opposed? Motion carries. Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones: And two, at the end of the items you just approved, we want to introduce our new director of code enforcement. Code enforcement’s gonna play a big role in making sure this is followed. Tony, just stand up. If you want to say a few words you’re welcome to. For future, come to the podium to speak. Tony: I’d like to thank everyone of you for the opportunity. As Mr. Chairman knows, I started my professional career here in Walton County, and it’s just a privilege to be back and hopefully finish up my professional career here in Walton County. Both myself and my wife are both from Walton County, so we love Walton County. Mr. Jones: Thank you, Tony. We will be going over a number of these things with Tony and his staff. For instance, if we cancel an event at the park, we want him to know the day and the time and make sure that that is followed. Alright, number seven is to continue the following board planning meetings to the following dates. That would be the last sheet I handed out to you that has the highlighted orange. Primarily what we’re doing is taking everything that we can practically and logically move to the month of May and cash in today to continue those as some of them have been advertised. And if we move to continue, we will protect that advertisement. But again, that will cut down on a number of large gatherings and number of people in one place. So those are before you are as scheduled and the dates that we’re looking to reschedule them to. Council? For this motion, do they need to just identify each one of them that’s highlighted here for the motion? Female Speaker: No, sir. Mr. Jones: It’s all of them. And the date that we’re moving it to is in the last column of dates commissioner. Moved? Male Speaker: Second. Mr. Jones: Any public comment? I see none. All in favor say aye. All: Aye. Mr. Jones: Opposed? Motion carries. Next item for your consideration is to cancel all other volunteer boards and committees until May first. Moved? Male Speaker: Second. Mr. Jones: Second. Any public comment? I see none. All in favor say aye. All: Aye. Mr. Jones: Opposed? Motion carries. And while no action is required, we would ask the board to recommend to all the citizens and visitors and businesses that they follow the directives and recommendations as set forth by the Center for Disease Control. That will just be a recommendation with consent of the board. And finally, just for knowledge purposes, admin will be working with all of our county departments and all of our county staff to facilitate their needs, primarily for their safety to limit the contact where we can and provide whatever needs they may have that provides their safety for their staff and their visitors. Admin working through our county staff. Male speaker: Mr. Jones, does that include allowing the employees who can work from home? Mr. Jones: Absolutely. It will be all inclusive. You know, we’ll be glad to have the directors have an understanding of their people, what their needs are, those that can work from home and it makes sense to do so to make that available. Male speaker: Do we need to do any action for either you or the director to have the authority to work with someone who doesn’t have enough sick leave and their sick? Mr. Jones: That would be part of our plan, but if the board would like to take action, we would know that everybody’s in support of it. Yeah, we’re gonna do our best to protect the staff and to cause the least interruption in their life as possible. Board members and the public, this state of emergency was entered to the day is good for seven days and that happens to coincide with our board meeting. Seven days is what it’s good for. Can you hear it now? Okay, try not to move the mic. Anyway, so every seven days we have to either allow it to go dormant or re-institute it. So, here’s the reason I mention that. We’ll address it again next Tuesday on the 24th, I believe it is. We’re two weeks out from there, but the ordinance we have in place will allow me or the county administrator to extend it an additional seven days. So, just wanted to let you know that it’s not gonna expire any time soon. Either board action or mine or Larry’s action will continue to the future. Is there any staff member out there that wishes to make some comment or recommendation to the board? This is your opportunity to remind us of something we haven’t thought about. So, if any of the staff has a thought you’d like to share with the board, feel free to. If it’s something you want to deal with admin, you know where to find us and we’re available any time. Male speaker: Unfortunately, I found out this week that 70 years old, so any of you that have older family, older friends, your moms and dads, your grandparents, keep them home. People my age and older need to self-quarantine. I have a heart condition. It’s easier for me to get sick. So, Danny’s wife has the same thing I have. So, please alert your family members and your friends that are older than middle age, which is older than 70. But stay in. Don’t go out unless you have to. Get your kids to buy your groceries. This thing is, we don’t know who has it. There’s a lot of people out there that never show any symptoms. But it seems to attack the elderly. So, please have your family and friends that are up in age to be very very careful. Female speaker: As Jeff comes up, I do just want to clarify that we continue our planning meetings. On this table that we have, it mentions the regular BCC meetings, and those have not been continued. We’re still going to hold those regular meetings as of now. It’s just that the planning items that were advertised for those dates would be continued. Sorry for not catching that sooner. Mr. Jones: If you will stand aside a minute. Miss Holly Hope, now this, if you’ve been paying any attention to what’s been going on, this thing changes from day to day, and I think you’ve given me at least three updates since Friday. So, we had one earlier this morning to discussion, is there any change in the last four hours? You got anything you wish to make a comment about concerning this, Miss Holly. Holly: Well, the numbers are increasing for the state of Florida. So, I will read this to you. This morning or last night, we get reports probably three or four times a day. So, the latest that we have as of 2:20 this afternoon, there’s 131 confirmed cases in Florida. And there’s been four deaths. So, that is an up to date number for cases in Florida. And that has increased, probably doubled, since last Tuesday/Wednesday. We still have no cases in Walton County as of right this minute. Mr. Jones: You’ve heard the action that the board’s taken. Is there anything, any suggestions you have on any other action that would be beneficial to what we’re trying to do? Holly: No, I think one of the things that people need to know is that we have been working very closely with healthcare providers. The healthcare like Health Mark and Sacred Heart Hospital, some of the local physicians, that community meeting last week that we very beneficial. I still am hearing from the community that there is information that they don’t know about. And they’re unsure. So, Jeff is pulling together our GIC this afternoon which are the PI’s from the different agencies to work together and really start funneling some information out there into our community. So, I think that’s gonna be very beneficial for us. But for most people, just being patient as things happen from day to day. This is brand new for everybody. We all have basic plans that we have that we can adapt as we go. When we get finished with this, we’re going to be so experienced between hurricanes and health issues, it will be a breeze from now on. But for right now, the patience with everybody, we have a lot of people that call us. They are very very upset because we cannot test according to the new screening algorithm that actually came out earlier this morning. It’s not a lot different from what’s been going on. But as you’ve read the news and you see on national news, there is an increase in testing available for the community. We’re gonna be working with our local community about how to do that. It’s still in the planning phases. We do not have that information yet. But as soon as we get that worked out, we will let you know. And then through the GIC, that will be circulated out into the community. Female Speaker: Just one comment, Holly. This room, we’re probably made to be right at 50 here. Is 50 the number of the max? We need to think about that. I don’t know how we’re going to adjust that as we all meet cause we still have these BCC meetings. We need to consider somehow to control near the 50 because we’re probably over 50 right now. Jeff Goldberg- Emergency Management Director: Yeah, these numbers just came out there. We’re going to be getting updates at noon our time. 11AM-Noon every day from the state we get a situation report that goes over what counties have local states of emergency. That number has increased since I briefed this morning. The same thing with what emergency centers are at a level 2 partial activation. We are at a partial activation. Most of it’s being done virtually because we want to try and limit the amount of people we put into one room. And a partial activation is defined as monitoring an active event and engaging with certain partners. So, ESF8 health and medical, ESF18 business and industry, firefighting and EMS and some of those agencies and organizations we’ve been interacting for about the past week, week and a half. And obviously the public information unit is vitally important to this. Mr. Jones: Alright, thank you. Male Speaker: I got a question if you don’t mind. Why the heck is everybody buying toilet paper? I can see a run on food, a run on hand sanitizers, Clorox, but toilet paper? Jeff Goldberg: Nobody has an answer for that unfortunately. But one of the things that we are doing because we are experiencing shortages in commodities in the county, we don’t necessarily have a supply chain issue, we’re able to get stuff from point A to point B, but it’s the actual commodities in the store. So, through our business and industry unit, which is the TDC emergency management, Walton area Chamber, the EDA, we’re going to be reaching out to the business community to try and keep an eye on what commodity issues are. And some of the stores are starting to limit the amount of toilet paper among other things that they can purchase, which I think is prudent on the business side. Mr. Jones: Thank you, Miss Holly. Jeff, thank you. Okay, is there any public comment from anyone out there? You gotta be quick around here. Please identify yourself for the clerk. Heather Duncan: I’m a representative from AJ’s. So, good afternoon everyone. We just wanted to let you know as a restaurant provider that we have made some changes into our cleaning and responsibility to the community. We have gone to all throw away items when you come into the restaurant now. We are not washing the cups. We’re concerned with the virus; so, we’ve gone to all throw away. We’re also going to be offering a menu that you can order. You can come pick it up so you don’t have to come in. We’re also taking away our bar stools and keeping 6 feet of separation just for safety. We are open for business, and we’d just like you to know that’s what we’re doing for the community. Mr. Jones: We appreciate that. I’m hoping the rest of the industry out there will pick up on that and go with it. It’s common sense basically. If you got the flu, you try not to take it wherever you go. Stay at home. Wash your hands. All those good things. All those things have been out on the media for weeks now. So, I appreciate your efforts, and hopefully the rest of the restaurant owners and eating establishments take the same position. Thank you very much. Heather Duncan: I’d also like to notate too to try to put a positive spin on this. I’m just updated as well, there have been 760 negative test results. So, we all hear the negative, but the positive is a lot of people are ill, but there are a lot of negative results out there. And if you look at the US, you know just updated, there’s only 4,110 cases across the United States. And Florida only has 131. So, if you do the math, you know, I feel like we’re pretty safe in North West Florida. But obviously, we’re still take precautions. Mr. Jones: Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Anyone else? Male Speaker: Mr. Chairman, though our website, with the announcement of today’s meeting, there were a number of comments provided to the board, one page, about 6 different people. I can either read them to you or I can provide you a printed copy, and you can read them and if you wish to take action, we can work on it next week. Mr. Jones: You can read them, but I want a printed copy. Male Speaker: Okay, would you like to take a 10 minute recess, and we’ll print them and if you want to comment on any of them? You already got them? Okay. And if you want to take 5 minutes or so to read them, and then if you have any comments or response to any of them. Is that acceptable Mr. Chairman? Female Speaker: And Mr. Chairman, a couple people are asking because the video is so bad, could we please recap what we voted on the first six items? Would you mind recapping those? I guess the people at home are having trouble with our breaking in and out. Male Speaker: When Jason gets back to get this thing fixed or teared out and put something new in here. Mr. Jones: I’ll go over that while you all are reviewing that if you like. But the action the board has taken was to declare a local state of emergency, suspend all employee out of country travel without special permission from the director and administration, to cancel and suspend all permitted outdoor events and beach activities, ordinance special events, suspend rental of all county facilities, extend driving on beach permits until August the first, began driving on the beach lottery on June first, extend dog beach permits by eight weeks, no new permit applications will be accepted until June first. Continue following the remaining meetings to the following dates. That list will be posted on the county website, and it will tell you the meeting date as it is currently planned and the date that the meeting has been continued to. Cancel all volunteer boards and committees until May first. Those were the things that the board voted unanimously to accept. Mr. Chairman: Alright, you’ve all had I assume an opportunity to read these submitted document with about six individual questions. Do you all wish to address any of them at this time or just make them part of the record? Alright, any other comments from the board concerning this? Male Speaker: You and me must have been thinking along the same. Jeff Goldberg: The young lady from AJ’s prompted my thought when she came up. One thing the governor is in the process of doing is requesting from the President a small business administration declaration, which what we would be able to do with that is businesses that have sustained economic injury due to this incident may apply for low interest loans to kind of carry them over. Once we get more information on that, and if we do get the agency declaration, we’ll go ahead and work through business and industry unit to get that information out to the public and to the businesses to make sure that they know what they need to do for documentation in order to go ahead and verify their economic injuries and potentially get some loans to help. Male Speaker: Can you make sure the up to date information gets put on you all facebook so we get the right information out. Because in the absence of right information there’s a vacuum. Jeff Goldberg: You’re absolutely right sir. That’s what the joint information center under public information unit’s gonna be working on, making sure that messaging gets out and working with the other agencies, sheriff’s office, fire rescue, municipalities to make sure that information gets out as well. Public Information Manager: (And horrible sound engineer, obviously.) I have a meeting called with all the PIO’s in the area for after this meeting. We’ll be putting together a comprehensive press release of not only the actions that you did here, working with the constitutionals, what they’ll be doing for their offices in regard to the public and anything they’re doing. We will certainly post that to the facebook page for EM. It will be on the sheriff’s site. We’ll all be working as one team to put all of this information together. And it will continue to work though the GIC. So, anytime we have changes, all of us are making the same changes to one document and getting out that same information everywhere and as often as we can. Mr. Jones: Thank you. Mary Campbell, I know you missed the meeting this morning. Do you have anything as far as what the city is planning on doing? You’re used to talking into a mic. Thank you, mayor. Mayor: I don’t know that this occasion will come up, but if we did need a meeting of some sort, and it’s 50 or more people gonna be involved, would it be a problem to do it in a open amphitheater. Mr. Jones: I would assume it’d be okay. The 50 is a recommendation. Mayor: I would think that was maybe for being enclosed. And so, I don’t know that we’ll have that, but you know, I’m thinking that if you had one that’s very necessary, you know, and of course, you got a big enough space obviously, I think 50 people or maybe more than that wouldn’t hurt. But in a building this size or room this size, probably need to stay under that 50 mark and try to exercise space, which that’s hard to do sometimes without you giving strict orders or setting the chairs. I know if we were to do something like in the community center, we could actually set the chairs and tell you not to move them, you know? And have them, you know, 5-6 feet apart. But just in case you have a meeting, and I know it’s really kind of our call, but I was leaning on them to hear on such a meeting because this may go on for quite a long time. And just trying to accommodate whatever we run into in the next few weeks, you know. Mr. Jones: Thank you, mayor. Anyone else? I see none. Board, this stuff is very fluid. It changes almost every few hours. Just remind you that in the event something major changes takes place that I may be calling you to set aside another emergency meeting to discuss it. Male Speaker: If I may just say one thing. Obviously, this is gonna be our priority from staff perspective. That may mean some other things get pushed back a little bit. We’re gonna minimize that the best we can. But we want to make sure that the things that we voted on today get top priority. And as we learn new things, we add them into the mix. Let me deflect a little. I’ve relied on Jeff and his staff. He was in contact with Holly and her staff. That’s what we do, and we’re glad to do it whenever it needs to be done. Mr. Jones: If there’s nothing else to discuss, we’ll need a motion to adjourn. Male Speaker: Motion to adjourn. Mr. Jones: We’re adjourned.  

Walton County BCC Issues Local State of Emergency due to COVID-19