City of Bloomington, MN Council Minute 2020, 8 Jul 2020

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From YouTube: July 6 Council Minute

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Mayor Tim Busse shares an overview of the July 6 Council meeting, a face covering proclamation that will be issued July 13, results from a recent community survey about COVID-19 and an update on the Small Business Emergency Assistance loan program.

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Hello bloomington,, I'm mayor tim busse, and this is the council minute for the.

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Week of july 6th., if you've been watching our council meetings since march, you.

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Know that we start every council meeting with an update from our public health division on the covid-19 pandemic and how it's affecting bloomington this week.

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Our deputy public health administrator dr. nick kelly spent some time walking.

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Through the latest science and evidence-based data about how the.

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Disease is spread and who's affected. in bloomington, the average age for positive.

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Tests is 30 years old.. That means that covid-19 is moving around the community.

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And affecting people both young and old., it isn't simply isolated to senior.

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Living facilities., our conversation then turned to face coverings. My colleagues.

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And I on the city council have been hearing from a lot of you about your concerns that many people are not being safe and considerate of others. When.

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They're out and about in public by not wearing masks and not observing social.

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Distancing. for the past four months, we have been closely following the.

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Recommendations of the cdc and the minnesota department of health face.

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Coverings are strongly recommended, but so far have not been required by the.

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State or nationally., our experts in public health are understandably.

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Concerned about patchwork regulations that might limit the effectiveness of.

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Public health policies or worse create confusion or even worse, resistance. So we.

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Have held off on a local requirement regarding face coverings, but after.

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Hearing from so many of you and hearing from dr. kelly that community spread is.

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Occurring, we've decided that it's reasonable to consider some stronger.

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Measures to protect our residents and to prevent the spread of covid-19. wearing a.

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Mask is one of the multiple steps we're asking the community to take to help us.

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Live with covid-19, and we all need to do our part in keeping our community strong.

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This monday, july 13th, I will be issuing a proclamation that requires the use of.

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Face coverings in all bloomington city-owned buildings and strongly.

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Encourages the use of masks in public places, like stores and offices,.

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Throughout the city of bloomington. on monday july 27th, the city council has.

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Scheduled a public hearing to consider an ordinance to require the wearing of.

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Masks throughout the community., frankly, I'm hoping and actually.

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Expecting that governor walz will act before them having a statewide order is.

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Much better than a patchwork of city, requirement. but,. We have authority and.

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Powers as a local community health board in bloomington to take actions to.

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Protect public health. We are committed to doing just that. recently,, the city of.

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Bloomington conducted an online poll to learn how residents were faring three.

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Months into the covid-19 pandemic, we were really pleased with a turnout.

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More than 1,000 residents responded., what we found out was that uncertainty and.

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Isolation, our top concerns respondents were asked to rate how much of a problem.

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Various aspects of the pandemic have been. The issue is most commonly rated as.

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Major or moderate problems were not knowing when the pandemic will end and.

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Not feeling in control, followed by feeling alone and feeling nervous.

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Anxious or on edge., when asked to rate the health of their households, 81.

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Percent of respondents said their physical health was excellent or good, 75.

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Percent said their economic health was excellent or good, and 67 percent rated.

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Their emotional health as excellent or good. respondents also shared the.

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Challenges and problems they're facing because of covid-19. a common concern was.

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Not feeling safe in public buildings when others weren't wearing masks, we've.

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Heard your concerns and in response, we're taking steps to make it safer for.

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You to go out in public whether it's a facemask proclamation or allowing.

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Restaurants, to temporarily expand outdoor dining areas to limit the spread.

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Of covid-19., we have another opportunity coming up for you to share your input.

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With us, we're conducting our annual residents survey later this month to.

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Measure satisfaction with city services., approximately 3,000 households will be.

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Selected to participate in this random sample scientific poll,, if you aren't.

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Selected to participate in the random sample survey, you will have an.

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Opportunity to fill it out when the poll opens online to the general public in.

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August, we'll let you know when it's ready for your input. folks. I can't.

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Stress enough how important these surveys are right now, when it's so.

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Difficult for us to meet with you in person. please, do share your input with.

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Us, whether it's through a survey or by calling our email either the city staff.

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Council members or me. we want and we need to hear what you.

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Have to say about your local government. a couple of weeks ago, I shared with you.

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That the bloomington city council had approved a small business emergency.

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Assistance loan program, this week, the bloomington port authority, which will.

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Administer the program signed off on it and will soon begin rolling it out.

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Here's how it will all work. we're making a total of 1 million dollars available.

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In forgivable, loans of up to $7,500, each to businesses that have fewer than 20.

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Employees and less than 2 million dollars of annual revenue. the loans can.

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Be used to pay salaries, rent or mortgages utilities and any other.

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Operating costs, business owners will need to show that they've been impacted.

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By covid-19 or that they're covered by the governor's executive, orders. sole.

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Proprietors independent contractors and self-employed folks in bloomington can.

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Also tap into the program we're including three hundred thousand dollars.

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Of funding for these types of businesses, again as forgivable loans up to $3,000.

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Each. in total, we're directing more than 1.3 million dollars towards small.

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Businesses in bloomington, because we know- and you know that small business is.

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At the heart of every community., we also know that many businesses, especially.

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Those owned by women and people of color often have less access to resources in.

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Lending so we'll be directly reaching out to those businesses.. We expect there.

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To be more demand than there are dollars, so we do anticipate a random selection.

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Process once we received applications. details for how to apply are on the city.

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Of bloomington website and you can help us promote this.. If you know a small.

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Business owner in the city of bloomington make sure you tell them about this. Program. applications will open up on tuesday july 21st and will be.

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Accepted until monday august 3rd., well, that's a wrap for this week's council.

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Minute stay safe, bloomington.