Editor, Gazette-Journal:

First of all, it’s time to have a meeting. In the Governor’s Executive Order 51, he directed that “state and local governments render appropriate assistance to prepare for this event, to alleviate any conditions resulting from the situation, and to implement recovery and mitigation operations and activities so as to return impacted areas to pre-event conditions as much as possible.” It’s going to be hard for the board to set county response policies without meeting. Electronic meeting forums such as Skype and Zoom are widely used and can be set up in a matter of minutes. Such meetings between the board members, county officials and health professionals can be broadcast live or recorded for future playback on Channel 48, assuring the public is informed.

The first topic for discussion might be a briefing from the County Administrator and the County Attorney as to what the respective authorities are between the state and county governments with regards to s...