Saginaw County Extends State Of Emergency
With COVID-19 cases across Michigan surging again, Saginaw County has extended its local state of emergency.
Lasting until August 31st, the measure will allow County office meetings and public forums to be done virtually without violating the State’s open meetings act.
When looking at the language originally proposed, some commissioners, like Kyle Harris, couldn’t get behind the much-needed resolution simply because it included statistics on confirmed cases and deaths attributed to the virus- even though the preventative measures allowed by it apply directly to him after he shared his own recent COVID-19-positive test result.
Approved by a 9 to 2 vote; commissioners made the extension on the final day of the previous declaration.
Commissioner Kathy Dwan was one of the two ‘NO’ votes, and says she didn’t believe the extension of the state of emergency for the sake of preventative measures would be needed needed at all despite the case numbers increasing statewide- sparking a debate on how long it should run for if approved.
The resolution follows similar measures implemented by cities across the Great Lakes Bay Region.
If seen necessary by the board, they do reserve the right to cancel the resolution at any time before the August 31st sunset-date.