BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- Gov. Mike DeWine’s decision to re-open the state of Ohio and no longer mandate mask usage as of June 2 h created some difficult decisions for Mayor Martin Horwitz.
“We’re getting numerous calls every day from people who want to know about pool rules, classes, camps, masking in Barkwood (dog park) and the park, and what we’re going to do after June 2nd,” Horwitz said at the start of Monday’s (May 17) online City Council meeting. “As of today, I don’t have any definite answers. We’re still asking questions and trying to find answers.”
Horwitz said he has also heard from city employees asking if they’ll have t work alongside unvaccinated employees.
“I’m hoping that by June 2nd we’ll have a policy to address all of these issues,” he said. “I’m asking for your patience as we struggle to be fair and safe in our city operations.”
Horwitz said that as soon as there are announcements to be made, they will be posted on the city’s website and on social media. He said that the best way for residents to be kept up to date on changes to policy is to subscribe to the city’s e-blast. To subscribe to the city’s e-blast, residents should email their name, address and cell phone number to elist@beachwoodohio.com. Residents can choose to get the information by email or text message.
“We don’t have any good answers yet, Horwitz said. “We hope to have answers by the end of this week or the beginning of next week.”
Council members and Horwitz also held a discussion about when council would again meet in person. Council President James Pasch said he was prepared to meet in person during the next scheduled council meeting, June 7, but Councilwoman June Taylor expressed concerns over doing so next month before knowing whether the Memorial Day weekend will create an uptick in the number of COVID cases. The state is permitting online meetings through the end of June.
“In my opinion, if any one of us is uncomfortable, then we should stand together,” said Councilman Alec Isaacson. Pasch agreed with Isaacson and said that the month of June can be used to gauge the situation with the virus before a decision is made to meet in person.
Horwitz said that Beachwood City Hall, like other area city halls, does not have 100-percent vaccination compliance. “So we have to figure out, as the administration, how we handle the situation of employees that have not been vaccinated, nor do they intend to get vaccinated for whatever reason, being in an open social setting.”
The administration is now in the process of determining the legalities of requiring masks to be worn in city hall. “There’s just a lot of unanswered questions in the last three days that have come up as to the shifting of responsibility to the unvaccinated, to expect everyone to wear a mask.”
If council meetings are to be held in person, it would mean residents were permitted inside city hall. “Are we going to have them (residents) show a vaccination card and if not (vaccinated) say, ‘You’re going to have to wear a mask?’” Horwitz said. “We really have to decide what direction we’re going in on this.”
Bettering emergency communications with residents
During his council meeting comments, Horwitz also addressed the aftermath of the April 20 shooting in the lot of the Embassy Suites hotel, 3775 Park East Drive, in which 24-year-old Tyrone Majete was killed. The shooting is still under investigation and no arrests have been made.
Horwitz was dismayed by the misinformation that came from different sources immediately after the shooting. During a May 3 City Council Safety and Public Health Committee, he told of the need to devise a better line of communication to keep residents informed.
“One man was shot and the car containing the shooter fled the area,” Horwitz recounted. “Within a very short time, misinformation flooded social media, fueled in part by emails and texts from area schools. We saw everything from ‘active shooter on Chagrin (Boulevard),’ to, ‘I just heard they’re looking for the killer on Halburton (Road).’”
Horwitz said that, in attempting to rectify the problem, he set up a meeting with members of the Beachwood Police Department and the Beachwood Federation of Teachers security team. “Our goal was to analyze our process for sharing information and set up a faster crisis communications system to get accurate messages to our residents and our Jewish day schools.”
As a result of that meeting, BPD Chief Kelly Stillman has named a new public information officer, Jamey Appell. Appell has taken professional courses in managing public information.
“It will be officer Appell’s responsibility to place short messages on social media as quickly as we have information available in a police emergency,” Horwitz said. “We will not be waiting until we (the city) put together a press release for all media. We will do this, hopefully, within minutes of an event happening.”
The information Appell releases will first be posted on Beachwood police Facebook, Instagram and Twitter sites, not city sites. After it is posted on the Beachwood police sites, it will then be posted on city sites.
As new information becomes available, the city will continuously make updates. “I would urge all residents to make sure that you have the Beachwood police sites on your social media account. I would also urge everyone to sign up for the e-blast I just referenced (above), because we will also put this out on e-blast.
“We will be working with Beachwood Schools resource officers and the Jewish day school administrators to make sure that no information is released by them to parents unless it has been cleared by our public information officer,” Horwitz said. “If you see any messages posted on friends’ social media platforms consider it unreliable, unless it is a direct reposting from our site.”
Horwitz said he is also asking residents not to call police and fire dispatch for information during an emergency because dispatchers may be involved in coordinating efforts pertaining to the situation. “Going forward, their (dispatchers’) response (to callers) will be, ‘Please check our social media sites,’” Horwitz said.
In the event of an emergency that poses a threat to the entire city, Horwitz said residents will be notified by the Cuyahoga County Code Red alert system.
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