Steering minutes: 2020-10-24

Agenda:

Great Oak Cohousing
Steering Committee Meeting
10/24/2020

Facilitators: Amy & Susan (sharing Facilitation & Tech duties)
Minutes: Catherine


Present: Sharon (Chief Scientist), Susan (Membership), Gail G (Common
House), Debbi (Steering Convenor), Becky G. (Grounds), Amy (Finance and
Legal), Eric (Buildings), No representative (Process), Eric (Meals),
Suzette (Work), Catherine, Syndallas, Dan, Tevah, Kelly, Elph, Polly, Becky
H., Hermann, Hope, Olas, Annie



AGENDA
Welcome & Agenda Review
Icebreaker: Favorite cold weather food or drink
Covid-19 Update and Q & A
Request to purchase 3 propane heaters with Steering Critical Needs Funds
(for decision)
Request to purchase a tent / shelter partially with Steering Critical
Needs Funds (for decision)
Ad Hoc Covid Committee: DRAFT GO Common House Opening Plan (Info/discussion
and opportunities to help move this forward)
Next Meeting
Evaluation and Thanks

Minutes:

DECISIONS & TASKS FROM TODAY’S MEETING

DECISION: Becky G will purchase three propane heaters for the community.
DECISION: Steering will provide up to $500 from Critical Needs fund and
Tevah will purchase tents.
DECISION: Wearing masks is required in the CH in any room, even when alone,
with the exception of private offices.

TASK: Meals Committee--revisit community shopping in light of new wave of
local cases?
TASK: (ALL) Email survey questions to Dan
TASK: Dan will create survey based on provided questions.
TAKS: Polly will research sanitation companies for emergency clean up in CH
TASK: Suzette will pilot using room opening form for exercise room.
TASK: Syndallas send link for room opening form to Suzette
TASK: Catherine will look into getting masks/face shields for CH emergency
PPE kit


WELCOME AND AGENDA REVIEW


Icebreaker: Favorite cold weather food or drink
Hot thick soups, Bourbon furnace drink, Hot spiced cider, beef stew, soup,
starbucks drink, soup & booze, coffee, hot apple cider with cinnamon, hot
chocolate, fresh apples, homemade apple pie, pears, squash soup, french
onion soup, bread with butter, oven baked mac and cheese.

COVID-19 UPDATE AND Q & A
We are in a third wave or hump (doesn’t really matter what you call it)
Daily records higher than any other wave.
We’re gonna be here for a little while. Fall, moving to winter, the virus
is likely to move into places it hasn’t hit before.

A few Michigan statistics:
Michigan cases are starting to approach the level we were at in
March/April. Looking at stats by age, yes there are a lot in the college
age range but the 30- -49 year olds are the highest number of cases.
Hospitalizations also going up--this is the most concerning. Happening in
all Michigan regions in the last couple of weeks.
Where are the outbreaks? In the last two weeks, mainly long term care and
assisted living, K-12, social gatherings and office settings.
Basic takeaways: Keep going with social distancing, washing hands, avoid
crowds.
These waves take a few weeks to rise and then a few more weeks to fall.
We won’t be going back into lockdown. There is not the political will for
that. Nobody but the governor can put us into that space.
Keep distance at Halloween. Fine to give candy from a distance.
GO may want to decide about whether to have health screenings before going
into the common house. Let’s be very careful with the ch reopening while we
are in this new wave of cases.

Q: Could you speak to moving into fall/winter about forming small bubbles
to support children? Homework buddies, some way to be together indoors.
A: Fine as long as there is an understanding that as the number of cases in
community go up, so does the community risk. Very important to report any
accidental possible exposures (example someone sneezes around you
accidentally without mask). We need to get used to asking each other
questions and we cannot assume that others are remembering all the things
we need to do to keep safe.)

One member is now working face to face with adolescents and children in a
medical setting. Thank you for letting us know!

Also need to ask each other what your risks are? Have you travelled? Been
to a high risk area such as a nursing home? If kids are not going out, it’s
usually going to be the parents who bring exposures.

Q: What sort of questions would we use for a screening?
A: Lots of question lists out there.Could use what’s already been made.
Q: Outdoors, with masks, 6 feet apart is still ok, right?
A: Yes, combined with not doing that if having symptoms

Q: Should I isolate after being a poll worker?
A: Yes, the likelihood of exposure is high for that. Mask, plexiglass,
gloves will be good. It would be nice if you could isolate for 3 days or so
after that.

Q: CDC has changed guidance to cumulative exposure…
A: CDC has been doing weird thing of trying to perfect the definition of
close contact for a long time. It’s because people are so literal. Being
less than 6 ft in multiple instances does increase your risk. But you don’t
know who is sick. It’s actually cumulative probability not just cumulative
exposure.

Q: I am back to work, but many people in the public are not wearing masks.
How do I quantify the risk in order to decide whether to continue?
A: I would avoid that. It increases your risk and ours. If the public is
not going through a screening.

Q: Thoughts about holiday visitors? College students coming home?
A: Best if the household can quarantine. It might take 10 days before it
would manifest in the rest of the household. Ideal if the family can
quarantine.

Q: Thoughts on Thanksgiving?
A: Find a way to share food but not space.

Q: Would it be good to restart community shopping?
A: Meals could revisit.


Request to purchase 3 propane heaters with Steering Critical Needs Funds
(for decision)
This was discussed initially at a community meeting earlier this week.

Becky: this is separate from the tent proposal. Heaters would be around the
community in the gathering nodes. Becky is asking for permission to spend
up to $900 for these. They could be stored with fuel removed on the CH
patio or under Becky’s deck. There was a lot of support for this at the
community meeting.

Any questions?
Q: these are the big tall ones?
A: yes

Comments:
Strong support.
I also strongly support
Reminder that we would have to replace the fuel containers.

If we as a community really like this, it could be part of the budget in
future years.

This is an experiment, I understand, but would this go under a committee in
the future if we continue?
Yes, probably grounds.

Every committee is represented except for Process.

Proxy vote yes from Malcolm from Grounds.
Becky stood aside as Grounds rep because of her personal feelings.
Agreement reached. Becky will purchase the heaters.



REQUEST TO PURCHASE A TENT/SHELTER PARTIALLY WITH STEERING CRITICAL NEEDS
FUNDS
Shelter area/tent for small gatherings, especially children for gathering
into the colder months. This was discussed initially at the community
meeting earlier this week.
Tevah and Dan presenting. Request for Steering funds is only partial. Over
$800 raised in donations from community members.
Request is for up to $500.
Not sure what tent--trade off between sturdiness and affordability.
Leaning toward 400-500sq foot canopy with canvas walls.
Thinking about hay bales, and sand bags to secure it.
It may not last the entire winter--this is somewhat experimental.
Have team of 5 people to monitor it and take down if needed.
Storage is anticipated to be in the community garage rafters.
Looking at concerns from the community.
No current plan to heat, but could possibly include electric heaters w.
Fire extinguishers.
We anticipate future use because covid will be around for a while.
Using CH porch is insufficient for weather. High school kids will also use
it.
Community events could use it too. An asset for the whole community.

Questions:

Q: Could we add to the reservations system?
A: Shouldn’t be difficult at all, could be added to the gathering node
areas.

Q: Jeff has owned one of these tents for years, so he is a good resource
for maintenance. Where would this live and what would the size be?
A: Size roughly 400-500sq ft. Location identified is behind the workshop,
on the playfield.

Q: Would this space be under the guidelines of the common house where only
community members could use it? Could we have visitors, like we do in the
gathering nodes?
A: I don’t have an answer for that, and it’s not up to me, but we do expect
there will be a total capacity for the tent.

Q: What is the current thinking about positioning? Alongside the back of
the workshop, or more out into the playfield? Also, snow removal question
is important, because the kubota clears snow into piles back there--could
impact the entrance to the tent depending on where it is situated.
A: Drew is on the committee to assemble the tent and he is also the snow
removal coordinator. We plan to consult with him about those details. We
are also open to input from neighbors in the sightline of the tent about
where to situate the tent.

Steering Members reached agreement.



AD HOC COVID COMMITTEE DRAFT GO COMMON HOUSE OPENING PLAN

Background: Before Steering began meeting regularly. A small ad hoc group
began meeting to talk and think things through. We saw that the community
needed to take things seriously, Steering began meeting regularly. There
are varying levels of expertise.

Largest area of concern is the common house. Some rooms continue to be used
very well (ex. Laundry room). Other rooms we simply closed.

To use our community expertise, Sharon, Syndallas and Mary King with came
together to create an evidence-based document to guide committees in making
decisions when people request permission to use specific spaces. This group
is now a formal ad hoc COVID committee.

We have to keep how things stand in the outside world in mind as we
consider opening the common house further.

We have done so much well! Laundry room is shining example. Hand sanitizer,
mail delivery CH sanitization are further examples.

Syndallas shared some of what the ad hoc committee has been working on.
Working to create fillable forms to work on opening rooms in the CH.
They had to sift through the guidance to figure out an overarching plan for
the whole CH and what to consider for individual rooms.

8 overarching concepts for the whole common house and 6 for individual
rooms.
CH shared areas:
Masks, handwashing and health screening.
Sanitizing plan is working well.
Deep cleaning--need to figure out how to implement.
We have new furnace filters and increased run time on the fans. More
research needed.
Contact tracing to collect info on visitors, but we have yet to address who
will be welcome in the CH.
Emergency response--if there were a high-risk cleaning in the CH (example,
someone vomits in the CH)
PPE available next to the AED, and for any other first aid emergency in the
CH.

Determining capacity--still needs research. Depends on air flow and what
the activity in the room is.

Designated champions--CH committee was the champion, but we need others
too. Help to develop the plan, share with steering for approval and monitor
compliance, letting Steering know of there are problems.

One other other consideration--how to address people feeling less safe as
CH opens up further.

Individual room opening plan:
Use form to address the elements to present a plan to Steering for opening
a room.
Laundry room has all of these elements already--an example.

Q: Will there be a champion for the common space between the rooms?
A: Ideally, the CH committee would be the champion for the shared spaces
mentioned in the first part of the plan. CH is currently only two
people--they would probably really welcome more champions.

Q: Protocol for who can go into the CH?
A: The fillable form is long. All of the questions need to be answered in
order to come up with an opening plan. We need to be careful to have/follow
recommendations. We are very lucky to have Sharon’s input.

There are a lot of unanswered questions that will take time to work through.

Q: What is the earliest time that CH could respond to requests for opening
the CH? Concern about how long this could take.
A: Opening plans will have to be approved by Steering. Suggestion that we
start using the forms to set up opening plans. If a group of people want to
open the exercise room, they can start on the plan, but then the plan needs
to be approved by Steering. We've worked on t his rigorously over the
summer until it was clear that there would be another major wave. If people
start filling out the forms to share how they would like to use the CH, we
can begin to evaluate whether we have the capacity to keep people safe with
that use. Sitting in the dining room is low risk. Exercising is not.

The guidance is there, we have to decide how to implement it. There is a 20
page document with the guidance, it’s very long and involved.

This is going to have to be a group effort.

CALL TO CLARIFY CH MASK POLICY
Can we have consensus that people should be wearing masks in the CH, except
in private offices? Some people have the idea that if alone in a room, they
could remove masks.
A: No objections to that. Masks required in the CH, whether or not alone in
any room, with exception of private offices.

Steps for moving forward:
We don’t have a clear understanding of what people want to do in the CH.
Could the survey team reconvene and survey people about whether they are
interested in using the CH and what for? And with whom?
Dan will create survey if people send him questions.

Exercise room champion, pilot using the forms? Suzette (needs link)

Research bathroom cleaners?

Put together PPE for emergency kit? Kelly has supplies and will share them
with whoever puts the kit together. But we need better masks. Catherine
will look into getting masks/face shields.

Research who we could call to clean in an emergency--Polly will look into
these


Suggestion for F & L to look into whether there are legal obligations
regarding opening the CH. Response that questions have been sent to our
lawyer.

EVALUATION AND THANKS
Appreciate all the work and preparation for the meeting, especially the
facilitators
Thoughtful questions
Would have been easy to get bogged down but we didn’t
Thanks to the presenters who did a whole lot of work to prepare
So many people on this call--appreciate that

Next Meeting
Next meeting facilitators are Marta and Dan--need agenda items by
Wednesday, no later
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