The Sherburne County Board Tuesday approved an interim employee vaccination policy that covers vaccinations, wearing masks and testing.
The 4-0 vote came during a 45-minute discussion between members of the board, county attorneys, human resources personnel and County Administrator Bruce Messelt.
The federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) adopted an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on Vaccination and Testing in the workplace, which became effective Nov. 5, 2021. The ETS requires that certain employers adopt and enforce a vaccination policy in order to provide a safe and healthy workplace for all employees and to help minimize the transmission of COVID-19. The ETS also requires that employers must determine the COVID-19 vaccination status of all employees no later than Jan. 10, 2022, which is Monday.
Under the county’s policy, any employee who is not fully vaccinated will be required to wear a mask starting Jan. 10. There are some exceptions, such as those who work outdoors exclusively or from home. But the definition of unvaccinated includes those who are not vaccinated, those who are partially vaccinated and those who do not share their vaccination status with the county.
Employees who indicate that they are fully vaccinated must also provide proof of vaccination by that date.
One issue for the county is the process for gathering that information. As of Tuesday, there was no system in place for determining employees’ vaccination status.
“We’re adopting this policy today. How long do we have for staff to report? My understanding is we don’t even have a solution to collect that data,” said Commissioner Tim Dolan. “We don’t have a mechanism to determine who is vaccinated and who’s not, so how can we implement the masking portion of it without that?”
Commissioner Felix Schmiesing agreed.
“If we’re not up and running on the 10th, what would be the requirement? If we aren’t ready I don’t think we should be forcing people to be wearing masks,” he said. “I don’t think that is a very positive relationship with our employees.”
Attorney Ben Reber, who is working with the county on the issue, said his position would be to start the masking requirement as soon as Jan. 10.
“However, it’s extremely temporary,” he said. “Once we get the online resource running, the mandate would be lifted.”
He said he couldn’t be certain whether the county would have agency enforcement issues if masking didn’t begin Jan. 10.
“But the fact that we are taking positive steps towards compliance will go a long way when it comes to whether or not we receive a fine from OSHA,” he said.
Schmiesing felt they should wait until the county had its system in place.
“We don’t have the means to collect the information to make the decision,” he said. “I would say we wait until we have the tool.”
Administrator Bruce Messelt said staff would dig deeper to find out what would happen if the county delayed the mask mandate until the data collection system was in place.
Messelt said the issue is affecting all of Minnesota. The ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Dec. 21 lifted a November injunction that had blocked the rule from OSHA, which applies to businesses with at least 100 workers. Now everyone is scrambling to meet the deadline.
“Things got put into motion quickly,” said Messelt. “Almost every city and county with over 100 employees was put into a tailspin.”
The issue was slated to go before the Supreme Court Friday. But a final determination could be weeks away.
“Chances are we’re not going to see a Supreme Court decision for a while,” said Messelt. “We’ll get an interim policy in place and adjust it accordingly after there is a decision by the court.”
“That’s what is extremely frustrating about this. They haven’t settled this on a federal or state level and they are pushing it down on us and forcing us to make decisions that we are not in a position to make,” said Schmiesing. “We as a board have responsibility to follow the law. But I think we want to move as slowly and deliberately as we possibly can. We have to have the utmost consideration for our employees and their privacy.”
Earlier, during the open forum portion of the meeting, Marlin Marquette, the county’s Maintenance Superintendent, spoke about the interim vaccination policy. He wanted the board to include a testing option along with the vaccination portion of the policy.
“There’s nothing temporary about an injection of this type into your body. It becomes less temporary the more injections you receive. Testing and wearing a mask may be temporary, but the injection is not,” he said. “I’m not an anti-vaxer by any means, but I do believe it should be an individual choice. I came here this morning to advocate that the Sherburne County Board adopt a policy that allows for weekly testing and not a mandatory vaccination.”
That testing option is part of the policy adopted Tuesday, although the final details of implementation and funding are still in the process of being worked out. The testing process is required to be implemented by Feb. 9.
“This shows we want to support our employees’ choices,” said Commissioner Raeanne Danielowski. “They have the opportunity for masks and testing.”
Messelt said staff was also considering putting up signs for visitors recommending (not requiring) wearing masks.
“What we’re concerned about is we may have a number of employees who will come to us and say, “well I have to wear a mask but visitors coming in don’t,” he said. “We don’t want to go back to a mandate, but we can say ‘encourage.’ That was our thought.”
The board did not agree to that policy yet.
Other Business
To start the year, the board appointed Commissioner Barbara Burandt (Dist. 1) as chair for 2022 and Commissioner Lisa Fobbe (Dist. 5) as vice-chair. They will also serve as chair and vice-chair of the Housing and Redevelopment Agency and Regional Rail Authority.
The board awarded the contract for the county’s legal newspaper. The Elk River Star News will publish the Delinquent Tax List, Financial Statement and Commissioner Proceedings. The Patriot will publish the Alternate Financial Statement.
