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Bethel City Council To Consider Reinstating State Of Emergency Due To COVID-19

City of Bethel

Some of the issues before the Bethel City Council tonight are whether to continue the state of emergency due to COVID-19, and whether it should add new rules to allow elections by mail. Also on the agenda is confirming the new police chief.The city’s first COVID-19 emergency declaration expired on March 24, along with the cab rules changing fares back to normal. The city council will be considering whether conditions require a second emergency declaration, which would allow the city manager and city council to bend parts of the Bethel Municipal Code. The previous acting city manager used that flexibility to change the city’s cab rules. Current City Manager Vincenzo "Vinny" Corazza said that he would leave the flat-rate fare ride-share system in place, unless the COVID-19 situation in Bethel changes.

Mayor Perry Barr is introducing a change to the city’s municipal code that would allow Bethel to conduct elections by mail. This ordinance would not order that this October’s election be held with mail-in ballots; it would just allow for that possibility. If the city council wants this year’s election to be conducted by mail, it would need to pass a separate ordinance.

The council is also scheduled to review the city manager’s hiring of new police chief Richard Simmons, whose starting salary would be $140,000. Simmons is currently a lieutenant for the Fort Worth Texas Police Department, and has decades of law enforcement experience.

Tune into KYUK for a live broadcast of the city council’s regular meeting on May 26 at 6:30 p.m.

Greg Kim was a news reporter for KYUK from 2019-2022.