Is your port prepared for a phased reopening? How do you plan to occupy the same office space together as employees, or share meeting space with the public with safety in mind? Additionally, key waivers to the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) and Public Records Act (PRA) require some thought and consideration from your port.

At today’s Tuesday Roundtable, we heard from Sheri Sawyer, Senior Policy Advisor with Governor Inslee, on guidance for local governments for phased reopening and the status of OPMA and PRA waiver extensions; specifically, working with legislative leadership to allow for local governments to conduct business remotely.

Scott Reiquam, Regional Consultation Manager in the Division of Occupational Safety and Health and Jim Rone, Maritime Safety Compliance Supervisor from the Department of Labor and Industries provided key compliance and safety concepts for ports to use as they create reentry plans.

You can find the resources and presentations from today’s meeting, along with other important information, on our COVID-19 response page for ports: https://www.washingtonports.org/covid19

In today’s conversation:

·       Updates from the Governor’s Office on phased reopening

·       Whether ports will be able to continue holding public meetings in a virtual environment, and if they can expand the scope of these meetings

·       If you are a port who would like assistance from L&I in determining whether you are in compliance with health and safety regulations, related to COVID-19 safety (and otherwise), you can request a consultation on their website: https://lni.wa.gov/safety-health/preventing-injuries-illnesses/request-consultation/

You can listen to the whole meeting here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/o9gziulbnz8jc8x/2020-05-26_Tuesday_Roundtable.mp4?dl=0

Do you have ideas for future topics we could cover in our Tuesday Roundtables? Email your ideas to Washington.ports@washingtonports.org