Steering minutes: 0000-00-00

Minutes:

2020-11-14 GO Steering Meeting Minutes


Facilitators: Dan & Marta
Minutes: Amy




Present: Sharon (Chief Scientist), Susan (Membership), Gail (Common House),
Debbi (Steering Convenor), Mac (Grounds), Amy (Finance and Legal), Mary
King (Buildings), Patti (Process), Gail G. (Meals), Suzette (Work),
Syndallas, Becky G., Drew, Nikki, Olas, Megan, Dan, Glenn, Hermann, Annie,
Bennie




AGENDA


1. Welcome & Agenda Review
1. Round to share something that’s caused some relief for you in the
last week
2. GO Survey Presentation and Q&A - Sharon
3. COVID-19 Survey Update and Q&A - Dan
4. CH Reopening Committee & Discussion - Syndallas, Mary, Megan
5. Steering meetings and jobs discussion - Debbi
6. Announcements
7. Evaluation and thanks
8. Adjourn - Next Meeting Nov 21 or 28 - email your agenda items to Debbi,
Dan and Amy. Minutes will be written by Catherine


***
MINUTES


1. Welcome & Agenda Review
* Round to share something that’s caused some relief for you in the last
week
* We just purchased a summer home/cottage on Beaver Island! And my
son Luke is getting married to Brittney on Nov. 28!
* Biden’s majority vote called!
* Tears of relief at all the supportive responses to my email about
using the game room for my work
* Framed congratulations from my colleagues at work on my retirement
* Several days of 70 degree weather, so we could eat outdoors again
and move around in comfort and ease
* The election results
* Finished a big job
* My outdoor class for young people worked out well in spite of the
cold - just keep ‘em moving!
* Election results, and a good new staff person
* Election results, new reclining bicycle
* Election results, and little things make a difference: I’m getting
my hair cut!
* A new migraine medication
* Our generator made it possible to to have internet and light while
our power was out and I had an international Zoom presentation
* Got my haircut for the first time in 6 months! Window inserts came!
* Election results, and in the last 24 hours it seems like he’s
starting to give up. At our office, one of our nurses, while competent,
has been a constant source of drama, and left for good on Monday
* Election results, sharing impressions with family and friends in
Europe. Very happy to see this monstrous guy leave. Lovely weather
earlier this week.
* Routine colonoscopy was clear, negative COVID test result, and I
made the doctor laugh
* Election results, court cases fizzing out, Jan. 20 will be the
biggest relief
* A dear friend’s COVID test came back negative. This community is a
constant source of comfort to me in these COVID times
* Election results, dancing, relief of knowing the CT scan of my
heart came back all clear
* It’s been hard to hide our happiness around our Trump supporter
friends, will finish our patio this weekend, still working on our rig
* Relief that all the protests won’t have to happen now that Trump is
leaving office


2. GO Survey Presentation and Q&A with Dr. Sharon
* NYT graphic shows 180K daily cases. When we were in lockdown, we were
at 20-30K cases. We’re a lot better at detecting who has the virus now.
We probably had a much higher (up to 5x) cases back in the spring than were
recorded. We are not containing the virus now
* The number of cases locally is high, widespread community spread, not
just outbreaks. It’s everywhere. MI-Start Map
* Near-term forecast graph, shows 32 different models projecting # of
deaths per week in the next few weeks. Going up. In the summer, it was
not as deadly, but now the volume of cases is pushing the death rate up.
* GO has done an amazing job. A lot of other places haven’t had as good
a result.
* We need to continue to pay attention to the details of what keeps us
safe for the next couple of months.
Q: The death rate map text says it shows the worst case scenarios. How
should we understand this?
A: People think they’re special and they can do what they want; they think
that lots of people got it and didn’t die, so they shrug it off.
Social-distancing, mask-wearing, and not thinking it can’t happen to me -
more important than ever. Treat it as if you’re about to travel somewhere
and have to isolate for 10 days. Then two low-risk households could get
together
Q: Does the diminution of the State government’s power affect us or are we
covered by the state and county health depts?
A: We’re pretty well covered by the health depts. They are able to enact
rules and policy pretty well. There are some loopholes that have to do
with timing and enforceability, though. All of the agencies in the state
govt recognize how politicized this virus has become, so they’re not
pushing too hard in some domains unless really needed. Health systems and
businesses will act where govt won’t/can’t. They’ll protect their workers
and the public
We’re essentially patching together the system the governor had.
Q: - What are you hearing about a return to a lockdown phase?
A: - At this level of spread, the lockdown would have to be for a long
time. There’s no political will for this, the election caused a lot of
division and churn. Doesn’t expect a statewide lockdown, but more and more
strictures. Close down bars, restaurants, a more piecemeal approach.
Q: What happened to the orders after the law was struck down? Can doctors
and nurses from out of state from elsewhere still practice here?
A: All gov exec orders were removed. Robert Gordon, Director of state
Health Dept., very quickly reissued them. Workplace issues coming from
MIOSHA, etc. Different areas of jurisdiction. Look at Dept of Health site
re: Q’s of licensure. (Gordon has been named to Biden’s team, fabulous!)
Q: Tolkien coming home for 6 weeks. Lives with 5 other college kids, only
see each other. 2 deliver pizza. All are reducing their risk as much as
possible. Fonsea and I only socialize outdoors. Would it help to add a few
days of isolation after he comes home?
A: Talk to the kids with pizza jobs. What is the real exposure. But if
not sure, better to have a few days of isolation as a buffer.


3. COVID-19 Survey Update and Q&A - Dan


Dan sent out the survey results earlier this week and went over the
graphics with us:


CH use: Most people are just picking up mail. Next largest two (tied)
groups don’t go in or just do laundry. Other uses are quite low in number.


Use of Workshop: 89% don’t use it, others use it infrequently.


If CH was opened up more, would you reduce your use of CH? 70% said no


If you could use individual rooms for solo or indiv household use? A lot
said yes or maybe


Which rooms? A lot of interest in Hot tub, sitting room, dining room, even
guest room.


Decent amount of interest in a room for exercising


Multi-household use if possible? Of those who said yes, ⅔ said 1
time/month, ⅓ said 1x a week


Who should be allowed to enter the ch after following health practices?
GO, GO guests, fewer said TS, even fewer said SW. Office renters - yes,
and their clients slightly less


Qualitative responses: Look over these as we think about individual
rooms. Take time to know how your neighbors are thinking.


No one who answered the survey wanted to use the game room.
How many people are using the game room?
We looked at reservation data and saw that it was mostly Megan, one or two
others.


Comment: Concern that neighbors may not be aware of the increasing risk,
and the survey results are skewed because of this.




4. CH Reopening Committee & Discussion - Syndallas


* The group has already seen the Common Areas proposal document once:
*
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPLMpUhO1tB471wwW6-fLhXDVerSX6lFYwLcnNvAGZQ/edit?usp=sharing


* Let’s look at this first and then move on to individual rooms.
* Overview of opening plan
1. Champions
2. Communicating policies
3. 2 part plan: 1) Shared areas 2) Individual roms, with
separate champions
4. Requirements - champions, policies in 8 areas from CDC and
other guidance
5. Rubric for making sure we’re covering the 8 areas


Opening the individual rooms rests on having the Common Areas covered.


Here are the 8 requirements for opening the CH Common Areas and their
current status:


1. Champions: CH Com is primary champion but they need more help
2. Masks, Handwashing, and Health Screenings - pretty much done and working
3. Sanitizing frequently touched areas - underway
4. Deep Cleaning - This needs to be addressed. Needs a budget and
volunteers to bring it into compliance.
5. Ventilation - we’ve done a good job addressing this
6. Contact tracing - Needs a volunteer to implement. Need this for anyone
who is not in the community. Currently only GO Residents, Office
Renters/Clients and Postal carriers and package deliverers are allowed. If
we want more people to come in, we will need a system.
7. Emergency Response - Catherine and Polly working on this
8. Social Distancing and Capacity - we have the policies and the
groundwork˜ for how to meet the guidance, but we’d have to keep an eye on
changes in the govt guidance, and having a plan for opening rooms, how do
we determine capacity and communicate it.


Need volunteers to help take this through.


Individual Room Plans are based on this, but these are shorter templates
because the general areas elements cover some of the items already.


How to move forward with an Individual Room plan:
1. Champion fills out plan template form
2. Plan sent to COVID Ad Hoc Committee to review and compare to guidance,
then to Steering for final approval


Brand-new information that came out Thursday: Governor’s and Dr. Khaldun’s
(Michigan’s Chief Medical Executive and Chief Deputy Director for Health
and Human Services reduced small gatherings to 10, requires social
distancing space between people to be increased from 6 to 10 feet, also
factor this into # of people in a room


The Steering Team is the deciding body right now for deciding about all
things COVID at GO. This document is the outline of a plan for how we can
open up the CH shared areas. We need to see if there is in fact consensus
of steering members, that this is the right way forward to open the shared
areas of the CH


Steering already agreed on an Administrative Control plan, which includes
monitoring the changes in policies and orders. This should be a job. Move
this specific job to the later agenda item about Steering jobs.


Comment: I’m concerned about the timing of this proposal. Impressed by
detail and thoughtfulness. It seems to me that there are overarching
concerns, if this had come in June, would have been easier to accept. With
the dramatically increasing statistics now, it’s difficult to harmonize the
desire to return to something more normal but also do this safely. How
would this process of partial reopening be modified or even stopped if an
order from the public health office or if a couple of people get infected?
We have been careful and fortunate, but we can’t assume that it will be the
same in the future.


A: We are trying to keep up with the latest info. If the health dept
closed things down, that would overrule our plans. There is no requirement
that everyone use the CH,. But some people have requested to use it. It
assumes that for some people, nothing will be safe enough.


Debbi called on each Steering Committee member to get their aye or nay on a
decision to adopt the plan document as a template toward a safer return
toward using the common spaces.
All were ayes except for Patti from Process. She needs to stand aside
because she missed the last meeting and is not familiar enough with the
plan document to feel comfortable approving it.
Membership noted that they have heard community concerns but will not stand
aside


CH Kitchen Opening Plan - Draft
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1csuVjhqeDGsXqPLhkaGMkHQTUpQcN6hSZz5_x7FkwxM/edit?usp=sharing


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bwz0sxkvqwXwSEFtV0Yxa1FNOU96Y2NKR3I3TVYyTzlfU2M0/view?usp=gmail
Put together by Meals Committee, sharing now as a model for an individual
room opening plan
Mary ran through the details of the individual room plan for the kitchen,
proposing a once a week meal cooked by a single household/pod and
distributed contact-free, no one will come into the kitchen, all cleaning
and other protocols


Game Room use
* At the last Steering Meeting, the decision was made to require that
people wear masks at all times in the Common House. This has been
devastating for her teaching over oom. She can’t teach successfully with a
mask on, so she had to move into her 800 sf apartment where Mario is also
Zooming his college classes. Megan asked in an email for help working this
through.
* Mary will help Megan develop an individual room plan for the Game Room
* Megan would either like to reserve the Game Room for her own use, or to
schedule 3 hour downtime after her use for the space to ventilate. She
will sanitize after each use.
* Is the direction Megan wants to go in acceptable? She would like to be
able to use it again as soon as possible.
* Concern seems to be about people going into the Game Room after Megan
* A solution could be to limit the game room to Megan
* Only Fatima and Burno have also signe dup
* If Bruno and Fatima also want to keep using it, Megan could block out
time on the reservation system for 3 hours after, for ventilation
* She always has the window open
* 2 ideas : just megan, or 3 hours after, she could coordinate with Fatima
* Becky - how many days a week do you need to use it? A: Currently 6
days, could bring down to 4 if needed
* Annie - Ozone generator - could that help? Malcolm - Not much data with
current situation and Ozone, it’s caustic, it will destroy and age things,
not excited about it.
* Syndallas - Every ventilation recommendation in doc assumes people are
wearing masks. We’re talking about something else is a new consideration
* Susan - cleaning protocol is necessary, how it’ll happen and when.
Exercising results in more droplets
* Insurance agent says we need to post and follow current guidelines.
* Becky - reminded everyone that we enter the CH at our own risk.


Proposal that Megan be able to use the game room exclusively for this week,
until we meet again and can work things through further
Suzette - stand aside
Membership - stand aside
Otherwise thumbs up from other Steering reps


GIve megan a week to prepare to present next Saturday
She will put a fan in a window blowing out - and she’ll sanitize
Game Room doesn’t have a lock - has to be a way of preventing someone from
wandering in
A sign should be sufficient
Use for 4 days and come back next week with proposal
Lock question comes to CH Com
Has to be communicated to community via email (Debbi ) and sign on door
(Megan) - and sign out room for days (Megan)


Mary is looking for feedback on the CH Kitchen proposal
* Q or concern - Becky G.
Coming back next Saturday


Exercise Room draft plan will come back next week
Review of first two reopening champions’ experience and Washtenaw Health
Screening - did not get to this


5. Steering meetings and jobs discussion - Debbi
1. Steering will meet next Saturday 11/21 to address Game Room item and CH
Kitchen, use it as a model for other rooms, also discuss Exercise Room, and
talk about Steering jobs. If time permits, talk about Steering mandate
during COVID times.
F&L - will find a replacement
Grounds - will find a replacement
Membership will try to find a replacement




Steering has never been in tended to function the way it has the past few
months
It’s taking the place of community meetings
Problematic - starting with 15 mins of icebreaker, formal facilitation and
minute taking added
Attempts to put non-urgent things on the agenda
Steering mandate is that Steering is for urgent decision making needs,
we’ve added a ton of work hours into this season
This may make sense, but it’s created confusion and conflict
Have a conversation next week or the week after, rewrite mandate to cover
what we decide


Immediate need is to talk about Steering jobs
11/25 is deadline to get jobs into work system
Right now we have a convener, chief scientist, ad hoc committee, steering
reps from committees (8) getting hours, minutes, co-faciliators. All of
tose jobs may be necessary
Eric proposed moving to weekly meetings, if we do that, we’d be doubling
the hours
Immediate question: for Jan-Apr - meet every 2 weeks or weekly?


Mary offered to facilitate on Saturday 11/21. Syndallas offered tol
co-facilitate
Make decision about work hours at next week's meeting


Comments:
We should dissolve current set up with 9 people making decisions for whole
community. Maybe we do need to meet biweekly
IN regular community meetings, the decision-making process is glacial
Syndallas noted that when we get new public health guidance, that’s not a
decision we make, it’s dictated
Maybe we start having community meetings on Sat mornings?
Creating an interim mandate for Steering during the pandemic is a good
idea, makes things clear
Make it clear that only things on agenda are time-sensitive covid related
items, don’t decide anything else
Meetings open to everyone, everyone can participate in discussion - make
this more clear
Not only invited but strongly encouraged to attend
So important to have regular meetings during covid, giving work hours to
encourage participation
Discuss what work positions needed next week
Write up a new mandate by next Saturday? No one was sure they had time,
but might be able to start


Debbi has been steering committee convener for the past year or so and will
allow the work survey to do its job. She will give it a positive
preserference but will not preassign herself. Need for continuity is less
urgent.


6. Announcements -
* Marta will be on retreat Weds evening until Mon afternoon, not reading
email or answering phone/texts. If you need her, she’ll be at home
* Simply Spanish truck coming Weds for dinner!
* Thanksgiving - pie celebration idea is forming


7. Evaluation & Thanks
+
Appreciated extra time and effort on Megan’s issue
Everyone being here, taking care of our community even when it’s hard


Delta - none


8. Next Meeting


Saturday, November 21 from 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Mary and Syndallas co-facilitating
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