Winona County Board Meeting 10-12.
WINONA, Minn. (KWNO)-A 90-day extension of Winona County’s state of emergency began Wednesday.
The county board voted 3-2 to extend the emergency last month. Commissioners Chris Meyer, Greg Olson, and Marie Kovecsi voted for the extension.
Commissioners Marcia Ward and Steve Jacob opposed it.
“What if we have something really big happen? A flood, tornado, river spill something like that and we’re already under a state of emergency? It becomes to me like the boy who cried wolf,” Jacob said while explaining his no vote. “We’re just always under an emergency and it has less effectiveness in my view.”
Ward contends the county would still be able to properly respond to the pandemic without being under a state of emergency and says neighboring counties are not under a state of emergency.
“You wouldn’t not do your job if we didn’t have this emergency. You are directed to be the emergency manager and you would continue to do the same job and the same good work about all of these clinics,” Ward said during Winona County Emergency Management Director Ben Klinger’s testimony to the board.
Klinger told board members the state of emergency allows the county to staff vaccination clinics without having to go through the contracting process and allows the county to access FEMA funds.
“It makes [Klinger’s] job and staff’s job a lot easier. That’s the part that we’re advocating for another 90 days,” Administrator Ken Fritz told board members.
The county is staffing its vaccination clinics with members of the Winona Fire Department. Fritz said ending the order would likely bench the firefighters from the vaccination effort for a month while the board goes through the contract process.
The county’s state of emergency was set to expire on Nov. 30.
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