Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region. This is part two, with part one having appeared in Saturday’s Tribune.
———
MCCALL — The use of face masks to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus is now mandatory in the city of McCall after an emergency order was adopted by the McCall City Council last week.
The order, which is tentatively set to expire Aug. 1, means masks are required in all indoor public spaces and in outdoor public spaces where social distancing cannot be practiced.
Council members voted 4-1 in favor of the emergency order, with Mayor Bob Giles and council members Mike Maciaszek, Colby Nielsen and Melanie Holmes in favor.
Council member Thom Sowers voted against making masks mandatory and instead favored a different order under consideration that would have “strongly urged” the use of masks.
“I don’t care for the thought of fining anyone for noncompliance with a mask ordinance,” Sowers said.
“We should support our businesses who wish to have such a mandate on their business, but as far as a community thing, I’m not for it at all,” he said.
The order applies to all areas within 5 miles of McCall city limits, which includes places like Brundage Mountain Resort, Jug Mountain Ranch and parts of Lake Fork.
Anyone found in violation of the order could receive a $100 ticket, but McCall Police Chief Justin Williams told council members he plans to try educating violators before resorting to the fine.
“We do not have the staff to proactively go out and search for violators of this emergency order,” Williams said.
St. Luke’s McCall Chief of Staff Greg Irvine briefed council members via telephone on the effectivity of masks in combatting the COVID-19 virus.
“This has become an unfortunate political issue and we’re not seeing people voluntarily wearing masks in public at a rate that we need to see them,” Irvine told council members.
“I think we have a responsibility based on Dr. Irvine’s input and others to act tonight and to put this into effect as soon as possible,” Giles said during the online meeting.
Nielsen questioned whether the order was constitutional, but City Attorney Bill Nichols told council members that the emergency order is supported by the state and federal constitution.
The order includes several exemptions from the mask requirements, including children under age 5, people who cannot wear masks for medical reasons and indoor services where a mask is not practical, like gyms and restaurants.
Transmission of the virus is reduced by 85 percent to 95 percent when both members of an encounter are wearing a mask, Irvine said.
That is true whether the masks are medical grade, hand-sewn fabric masks or paper surgical masks, he said.
“We know that masks reduce the risk of virus spread,” Irvine said. “That’s been very, very well-documented by multiple studies.”
Irvine pointed to the recent confirmation of community spread in Valley County as influencing his position that the order should make masks mandatory, not optional.
“It’s important that we all assume that anybody could be shedding virus, and that’s quite literally true,” he said. “I might be spitting virus on my phone right now.”
Irvine acknowledged public fears that requiring masks tramples civil liberties, but countered that not requiring masks could ultimately trample the rights of those who do wear one.
“I think that it’s wise and appropriate for motorcyclists, for example, to wear a helmet when they ride a motorcycle,” he said. “But if they choose not to, the only person they harm is themselves.
“So, this doesn’t become a matter of civil liberties, in my opinion, it becomes a matter of public health,” he said.
Irvine also shot down the notion that wearing masks can have negative effects to the wearer’s health, as some opposed to masks have suggested.
“There is nothing that has ever shown that breathing through a mask creates any problems,” Irvine said. “There’s no science to that whatsoever. Absolutely none.”
The mask order is set to automatically expire Aug. 1, but could be rescinded or extended by the city council before them.
An emergency powers ordinance passed by the city council March 20 allows the city to pass temporary laws related to protecting public health and safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
That ordinance is tentatively set to expire in late September unless rescinded or extended by council members.
— Drew Dodson, The Star-News (McCall), Thursday
Midas Gold logistics facility will face P&Z hearing
MCCALL — Midas Gold Idaho will air plans for a logistics facility on Warm Lake Road during a public hearing at the Valley County Planning and Zoning Commission’s meeting Thursday at 6 p.m.
Anyone who wants to comment on the application in person or via telephone should call (208) 382-7115 or email P&Z Administrator Cynda Herrick at cherrick@co.valley.id.us before 4 p.m. on Thursday.
Plans for the Midas Gold’s Stibnite Logistics Facility call for four buildings that would serve the company’s proposed gold and antimony mine near Yellow Pine.
However, the facility would only be built if the mine is granted approval from local, state and federal regulatory agencies, Midas Gold officials said.
The four buildings would total about 64,000 square feet on a 25-acre site about 8.5 miles east of Idaho Highway 55 on Warm Lake Road.
One building would serve as administrative offices and an assay laboratory to study mineral compositions, which would provide normal five-day workweek jobs for local residents, according to the application.
Other buildings would include a warehouse for supplies needed at the mine site, a hazardous materials storage building and another storage building for rock core samples and other items.
The purpose of the facility is to reduce traffic to and from Stibnite by maximizing freight efficiency and providing a shuttling point for the operations workforce of about 600 employees, the application said.
The parking area at the facility would include about 350 parking spaces for employee vehicles, which would remain on the site for the duration of employees’ two-week shifts.
However, a traffic study showed intersections on Idaho 55 at Warm Lake Road in Cascade and Deinhard Lane and Boydstun Street in McCall would need to be improved whether the logistics facility is built or not.
Midas Gold is currently working with the Idaho Transportation Department on designs to add turn lanes and expand the intersections to accommodate increased traffic.
Under Midas Gold’s updated plan submitted to the Payette National Forest last May, daily traffic associated with the project would be about 53 vehicles per day, or less than a 1 percent increase over current Idaho Highway 55 traffic.
The study estimates that about a third of that traffic, or 18 vehicles, would travel north from Warm Lake Road, while the other two-thirds, or 35 vehicles, would travel south toward Boise.
Mine traffic would be a mix of semi trucks and ordinary vehicles, all of which would only operate Monday through Friday.
Midas Gold says mining operations could end in 2037 and clean-up work could end by 2040, but it plans to keep the building beyond the life of the mine, the application said.
Currently, the company remains in the permitting process for the mine, with the next action expected to be the release of a draft environmental study in August.
Once the draft study is released, a final decision on the project would be expected about a year later, at which point Midas Gold could begin construction on its proposed gold and antimony mine, including the logistics facility.
— Drew Dodson, The Star-News (McCall), Thursday
