The Chaffee County Board of County Commissioners have established a temporary policy to move all County public meetings to a fully virtual format through at least January 4, 2022.
Beginning immediately, the BOCC has established that all County public meetings, including volunteer Boards and Commissions’ meetings, will rely primarily on the Zoom platform for conduct of meetings and for public participation. In-person, on-site participation will be limited only to staff, elected officials, and board members who are unable to connect remotely. This decision to increase precautions expands on last week’s request from the BOCC that the public voluntarily utilize remote participation options as much as possible for County meetings based on the high rates of COVID transmission in the community.
Commissioner Greg Felt noted that so far in November, the community is on pace to double the number of positive COVID-19 cases seen here in a given month throughout the entire COVID-19 pandemic. To date, 277 Chaffee County residents have had a positive COVID-19 case identified in November. The BOCC agreed additional precautions are warranted to prevent worsening of the current surge, particularly leading into the holiday season. They plan to revisit the policy after the new year in consideration of the local COVID situation at that time.
The Commissioners also reiterated the expectation that individuals wear face masks when in common areas inside County facilities, regardless of vaccination status.
Zoom links to the County public meetings are posted within the individual meeting notices on the calendar found at www.chaffeecounty.org/. Anyone with questions on virtual participation in public meetings or who feels they need assistance with accessing Zoom is encouraged to reach out to the administrative office at 719-539-2218 or email chaffeeadmin@chaffeecounty.org for support.
