A small turn out for the Paso Robles city council last night. The mayor set the tone for a strange meeting at the library conference room. He was not present. Neither was councilman Fred Strong or city manager Tom Frutchy.
The most poignant message came from Pastor Cole in his invocation. After his moving invocation, mayor Steve Martin outlined the process for declaring a state of emergency in the city of Paso Robles and most of those seats were empty.
The city council, acting as the city’s disaster council, declared a state of emergency because of the Wuhan corona-virus.
The council then received a report on corona-virus from fire chief Jonathon Stornetta, acting as emergency services chief. He said there are no cases of the virus in Paso Robles, but it has spread to six people in the county, including two in Atascadero.
The council then got down to regular city businesses. They approved three general plan amendments to rezone the area for the homeless navigation center at 3100 Sulphur Springs road. The council also voted 4-0, with mayor Steve Martin recusing himself, to begin the Proposition 218 process for an increase in solid waste collection rates.
Near the conclusion of the meeting councilman Steve Gregory talked about his concern for local business people because of the corona-virus scare, particularly wineries and the owners of short term rentals.
Only about one dozen people attended last night’s Paso Robles city council meeting. Most of them were city staff and the council themselves.
