The biggest issue facing the Frederick County Council in November continued to be how to handle the COVID-19 health emergency in Frederick County. Last month I wrote about the urgency of the Frederick County Board of Education establishing a plan to return kids to in-person learning. I am pleased to report that the Board of Education did just that at their first November meeting, voting to allow a hybrid learning model beginning at the new semester on January 28.

In November, the Frederick County Council met as the Board of Health for the first time in years and years. The Board of Health includes the County Executive and the County Health Officer as an Ex Officio Member. We vigorously discussed adding business and individual restrictions that go above and beyond what the state requires. In the end, the Board of Health voted 7-1 (with myself opposed) to reduce capacity at a slew of businesses from 50% to 25%. Additionally, we turned over the authority to the County Health Officer to designate individuals to enforce health requirements as a civil fine. The ordinance that passed also granted the authority for the health officer to add additional restrictions without going back to the Board of Health.

I opposed this for many reasons. First, I do not believe the statistics in Frederick County (which are consistently better than the state of Maryland) justified action above and beyond what the state requires. I have spoken with many private businesses who are really struggling now, and what they don’t need now are additional local restrictions that make it more difficult for them to keep their doors open and to keep employing people in the Holiday season.

Secondly, I am very troubled by the process of imposing these restrictions. We are in a health emergency and it does justify urgent action. However, we must balance that urgent action with the fact that we are still living in a democracy, and should use a normal process with public feedback whenever possible. We passed these ordinances in haste. They were first proposed on the afternoon of Thursday, November 12 and passed near midnight on November 12. The regulations went into effect at 5 PM on November 13, less than 18 hours later. We took no public comment, so we did not know the effect these regulations would have on businesses or individuals. The regulations were poorly worded which led to confusion from businesses who happened to hear about them the next day.

The choices that have to be made are no doubt difficult. It is difficult to balance the competing interests of public health versus a person’s livelihood, or a child’s education. These tough choices require careful consideration which should include community feedback and public involvement.

The hasty manner and language of the ordinance forced the Board of Health to reconvene again on Tuesday November 24 to pass amendments to the ordinance to help people understand what the ordinance actually does.