HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021_11_22 SSchumacher_AccessibilityFrom:Stephen Schumacher
To:Board of Health
Subject:Public comment: Keeping it local
Date:Monday, November 22, 2021 12:55:45 AM
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Dear Jefferson County Commissioners,
Last week I expressed concern about public officials like Health
Officers not living in our county. Commissioner Dean asked what any
of this had to do with public health. I ran out of time before I got
to my point, which stemmed from an experience last year when I was
getting concerned that numbers quoted by then-Health Officer Locke
were not adding up.
I tried visiting the Health office next to QFC and found it
closed. I called the number on the door, left a message, and got no
response. A week later, I finally got through to someone who could
tell me that Locke was working from home in Sequim so I could not see
him, only email him. When I did so, to his credit he responded
quickly. The current-but-still-Clallam-based Health Officer is not
so responsive, admitting when questioned at last month's Board of
Health meeting that she doesn't bother to answer or even read public
comment, claiming to be too busy.
My point here is about public access and local
accountability. Having overloaded health officers serving two
counties simultaneously, and not living in ours, and who are out of
touch and difficult to reach, is NOT a good thing! That would be
true at any time, but changes brought by endless "emergency"
lockdowns make it much worse. With officials working from home, not
in their offices, not even in our county, with all meetings by Zoom,
everybody just phoning it in, things don't even feel local anymore.
Comissioner Eisenhour, at the last meeting you expressed your wish
that more people would participate in public comments, not just the
same 5 to 10 voices, and I wish that too!! But the reality is that a
lot of our community members are not comfortable with or do not have
access to the necessary technology, have glitchy connections, or are
experiencing Zoom fatigue with virtual non-meetings where public
"attendees" can't even see each other or be together.
So long as this endless lockdown on public meetings continue,
supposedly because of an "emergency" but not really, so long as folks
can't meet in person freely without masks and discriminatory
restrictions, so long as we are ruled by inaccessible and
unresponsive health officers who live and broadcast orders at us from
another county, it feels like a real and concerning failure of local
governance, inclusion, and democracy.
Yours truly,
Stephen Schumacher
Port Townsend