Date:	December 9, 2020

Place:	Enterprise City Council Chambers

Time:	7:00 PM

Present: Mayor Brandon Humphries; Council Members Jared Bollinger, Jared Moody, Ronald Lehm, Jed Gardner,; City Recorder Wendy Paine, Fire Chief Brenden Moody, Barbara Hunt, Marlene Bollinger, Jeri Lehm, Mark Stauffer, Kris Naisbitt, Steve Twitchell, Clairene Twitchell, TJ Holt, Joseph Holt, Riley Staheli, Blaine Jones, Gordon Clemms, Mary Lou Evans, Ed Evans, Gabe Cook, Cristie Staheli, Kevin Staheli, Emily Preston, Austin Rupp, Norita Sorenson, Chase Christy, Marleen Christy, Dallas Hall, Belinda Hall, Randi Waegerle, Shane Waegerle, Delbert Staheli, Vanessa Staheli, Kyle Staheli, Delanie Staheli, Jerry Lee, Kasey Preston, Brayden Preston, Denise Jones, Jed Beckstrand, Tyler Staheli, Angie Staheli, Kelly Staheli, Derrik Staheli, Mandy Staheli, Steve Van der Heasen, Joshua Colby, Yvonne Colby, Vicky Olson, Megan Vince, Kimbrie Terry, Joseph McLaughlin, Ken Wagner, Lloyd Reber + 2 illegible signers.

Absent: City Administrator Adam Bowler, and Council Member Roy Adams

Welcome: Mayor Brandon Humphries Opening Comments: Council Member Jared Bollinger Pledge: Mayor Brandon Humphries

Approve Agenda: The Council was presented with the agenda. After review, a motion was made by Council Member Ron Lehm to approve the agenda as presented, the motion was seconded by Council Member Jared Moody and unanimously approved.

Approve Minutes: The minutes from the October 28, 2020 City Council Meeting were reviewed. A motion to accept the minutes as presented was made by Council Member Jed Gardner, seconded by Council Member Jared Bollinger and unanimously approved.

The minutes from the November 18, 2020 City Council Meeting were reviewed. A motion to accept the minutes as presented was made by Council Member Jared Bollinger, seconded by Council Member Jed Gardner and unanimously approved.

Accounts Payable: The accounts payable for the dates through December 8, 2020 for the amount of $106,259.89 was reviewed by the Council. A motion to approve the accounts payables was made by Council Member Jared Bollinger, seconded by Council Member Jed Gardner and unanimously approved.

Open Forum: Mayor Humphries opened the meeting to the public for remarks, limiting the time to 3 minutes for each person.

Marlene Bollinger, Vickie Olson and Barbara Hunt each took a turn speaking. They expressed their opinion that the City of Enterprise should follow the rules of our state and church leaders. They feel that the upcoming Christmas party should not be allowed in a City Building. They mentioned the high transmission rate of the virus in our area and the need to practice social distancing and mask wearing to protect all of us, especially the elderly and other high risk groups.

Joe Mclaughlin, Derrick Staheli, Norita Sorenson, Clairene Twitchell, Jerry Lee, Kevin Staheli, Shane Waegerly, Kris Naisbitt, Ken Wagner, Delbert Staheli, Emily Preston and Lloyd Reber each took a turn speaking. Their statements included their opinions on the need to exercise their rights, the ineffectiveness of masks, the government using the pandemic to control citizens, the need to celebrate as normal, the hypocrisy of our leaders, the mental health effects of staying isolated, that others with opposing views or health issues should respects their rights and stay at home. They pointed out that this City Council Meeting was not held in compliance with Health Department COVID-19 standards and that cancelling the party would be hypocritical. The also stated that the community building was built by the sacrifice and service of our community members and should be able to be used by them.

As there were no other remarks made, the Council continued on to the next item on the agenda.

Mayor Humphries thanked everyone for their remarks and for being at the meeting. He said that sometimes it seems like these issues can take on a confrontational tone, but that it does not need to be that way. This type of discussion is how cities are made and the way things get talked out and how voices are heard.

Administrative/Miscellaneous: Mayor Brandon Humphries

Consideration of City Council and Planning Commission 2021 Meeting Schedule. After some discussion, Council Member Ron Lehm made a motion to approve and adopt the City Council and Planning Commission 2021 Meeting Schedule. The motion was seconded by Council Member Jared Bollinger and unanimously approved. This schedule will be posted and noticed as required by law.

Physical Facilities – Council Member Ronald Lehm

Consideration of the Proper Use of City Facilities During the Pandemic

Mr. Lehm stated that along with Mayor he wanted to thank everyone for coming and sharing their opinions. He wanted to make it clear from the beginning that the City was not going to cancel the party. He asked for this item to item to be put on the agenda to talk about the use of the buildings. In March or April when the pandemic was clear, the Council put some policies in place concerning the use of the buildings to help keep the public safe. That policy included that signs be posted in our buildings stating that face masks be worn and social distancing be observed. The only reason that we are talking about this again is because of the blatant wording in the flyer advertising the upcoming event that masks and social distancing would not be required.

Mayor Humphries stated that with the health mandates that have been handed down by the Governor’s Office are all full of hypocrisy. It was necessary for the Council to come up with a way to open our buildings up and make them available to our citizens after they were closed down by mandates. The Council discussed the issue and voted to put the signs up and increase the disinfecting schedule. No member of the City Staff or the City Council has ever policed the community building. The Mayor has personally been to events where masks were not worn and social distancing was not observed. The sports court continues to be used without any social distancing or masks and there has been no policing of that facility either.

Mayor Humphries stated that he believes that it is not our right as elected officials to tell you what you can and cannot do. We can give recommendations and tell you what the rules are and then you get to decide for yourself. We have a responsibility to the public to provide the information. There is a state Event Template that is supposed to be completed for all gatherings over 10 individuals we can make that available to event hosts. If you want to put this idea into religious doctrinal language we can say ‘you have your agency’. We try to teach correct principals and you get to decide whether to follow them or not. The problem with this particular issue is that there is so much conflicting data for all of the different sides of the issue. As a City we will post the signs provided by the state. Everyone gets to decide whether or not to go to an event and the event attendees get to decide whether or not to follow the rules.

Council Member Jared Moody said that it is sometimes difficult being in the Council seats when it comes to issues like this. It feels like we are being attacked and this is an ‘us versus them’ type of issue and he hopes that this is not what it is. He does not want it to sound like that on his part. Whether he agrees with one side of the issue or the other, he believes that the City has no business backing a political protest, which this seems to be. The only issue is, if there even is one, is that the feeling that everyone is getting from the advertising is that this is a protest. He and the City cannot support a political protest. We are asking the same thing of this party as we have asked of any other event that has been held in the buildings.

The Mayor asked the event host, Derrik Staheli if this was a political protest.

Derrik Staheli responded that it is not a political protest.

Council Member Jared Moody wants to make sure that people do not perceive that the City is supporting people not following the mask rules simply by letting them rent and hold their event in one of the community’s building.

Council Member Jed Gardner said that the signs will be there and we will not be policing.

Council Member Jared Bollinger said that he believes that we should follow the state mandate that there should not be gatherings of more than 10 people. He believes that the party has been publicized enough that there will be people from the state health department checking in on the party. He wants to make it clear that the City is not supporting or encouraging this event in any way. The signs are posted and we expect people to follow those directions, but we don’t police it and we can’t force it, but it is policy. With all of the talk on what is constitutional, maybe things would turn out differently in a court, but it would cost a lot of money to get to that point. It was this City Council that came up and passed the policies for the use of the community buildings and he would hope that the citizens would follow them.

After some additional comment from community members the Mayor reiterated that the City is not endorsing the party. The City is not supporting, not hosting, and not giving any financial support to this party. The City is not supporting a political protest and we are not supporting a party that it advertising that social distancing and mask wearing is not going to be required. The host is the person renting the building and the host and the attendees will bear the responsibility of following the rules or not.

The Council did not feel that their current policies for the public buildings need any changes.

The Mayor spoke about the recent vandalism at the Community Center and asked as people are using the building or are around the building that they watch out for it and take care of the building and use their good judgment.

Newsletter – Mindee Davidson

Items for Upcoming Newsletter – No items were mentioned

Next scheduled City Council Meeting January 13, 2021 at 7:00 PM

As there were no other items on the agenda, the meeting was adjourned at 8:25 PM

Respectfully Submitted:

Wendy L. Paine/Enterprise City Recorder