Ramps open, but local parks close

Posted on March 27, 2020

Editor’s Note: This article was published on March 27, 2020. One week later, on April 3, 2020, the Taylor County Commission voted unanimously to close all county-controlled public boat ramps indefinitely due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak (link to story). The closure began at midnight Thursday, April 2, coinciding with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order calling for Floridians to stay at home during the crisis. The board did agree to keep the Keaton Beach boat ramp open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. daily for commercial anglers only. The county will have a law enforcement officer at the ramp to check the commercial licenses of those wishing to use the ramp. The board further limited the use of the ramp to those who had an existing commercial fishing license as of Wednesday, April 1.

During an emergency meeting held Wednesday evening, the Taylor County Commission voted to close all county parks, but opted to keep the county’s public boat ramps open for the time being.

The county park closures include Hodges Park in Keaton Beach and the Taylor County Sports Complex. Meanwhile, within the city limits, the City of Perry announced Thursday that all city parks were being closed beginning on Friday, March 27. However, according to City Manager Taylor Brown, all public walking trails (such as the one at Rosehead Park) will remain open.

 The county’s Wednesday emergency meeting was called to consider closing all county facilities in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, but ultimately county commissioners voted 4-1 to not include county-owned public boat ramps.

Commission Chair Pam Feagle cast the only vote in favor of closing local boat ramps.

Feagle began the meeting by reading a statement that said, in part, “We’re here to make some of the toughest decisions that we’ve had to make in probably the history of Taylor County due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. Taylor County is lucky so far to have no positive cases, and we need to do everything we can to keep it that way.

“Public safety is one of the responsibilities we have as commissioners,” Feagle said. “It supersedes everything else, whether it is people who refuse to adhere to recommendations to stay home, businesses’ bottom lines or simply a selfish disregard for others.”

Feagle noted positive cases have been reported in Leon and Alachua counties.

“When people ignore recommendations to stay at home, we must try to remove incentives that cause people to travel,” she said. “This is not about money. This is not about a vote. It is about saving lives.

“Ninety-nine percent of the people who have contacted me are in favor of closing the boat ramps and the beach,” Feagle said. “The majority of Taylor County citizens do not own a boat, and many of them that do, say they will sacrifice not using their boat to help ward off the coronavirus.

“Bottom line, we need to protect our citizens for a temporary period of time until the virus is under control, and it is safe for us to resume normal activities,” she said.

Feagle then opened the floor to other commissioners, all of whom expressed the opposite opinion when it came to closing boat ramps.

“If the governor had decided to close [Highways] 19, 27, 221 and stop people from coming in here, I would have been in favor of closing the boat ramps, but that didn’t happen,” Commissioner Jim Moody said. “I’ve polled a lot of people. I’ve been on the phone all day since 5 o’clock this morning, and 90% of the people want us to keep the boat ramps open. Five of the [other] 10% are scared to even go to Walmart. Very few people have not gone out into public, so they took the chance and went out to buy groceries, buy gas…all that kind of stuff.

“So, I’m in favor of closing the parks where people bunch up, but I am not in favor of closing the boat ramps in any kind of way,” Moody said. “That’s where I stand on it.”

“I agree with what you said, Jim,” Commissioner Malcolm Page said. “I’ve been up since 9 or 10 o’clock with the house phone ringing and the cell phone ringing in the other hand trying to juggle two phone calls at one time. Other than maybe three people, the majority of the people I’ve talked to today want the boat ramps to remain open at this time.

“I’d like the boat ramps to stay open,” Page said.

He also noted that the county does not have the authority to close the Aucilla Mandalay Boat Ramp because it is owned by the federal government, so it would remain open regardless of what the commission decided.

Additionally, there is a question about the Bowden Landing boat ramp on the Aucilla River and whether the county or the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has the authority to close it.

The Econfina River boat ramp is controlled by Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which closed the ramp this week along with all state parks (see story on page 3).

“The other side of this thing is, if I take this approach and vote to keep the boat ramps open, there’s always that possibility that we’re going to have – later than sooner I hope – a case of coronavirus in Taylor County. If that happens, I’ll be here to change my vote, and we can have another meeting,” Page said.

“This takes care of the issue of the commercial fisherman not having anywhere to put their boats in,” Page said. “These people have got to feed their families. They need somewhere to put in their crab traps and do their business. If we leave the boat ramps open, then they can use them like anybody else.”

On the issue of limiting access to the boat ramps to Taylor County residents only, Page noted the county cannot treat people from outside the county differently than locals. In previous years, the commission had considered a two-tiered fee schedule for boat ramps, but were told they could not legally do that.

“A boat ramp closure is a little premature at this point,” Commissioner Sean Murphy said. “But as far as closing parks down, that would be a wise decision at this time, with people getting too close to each other and too congregated. At the boat ramps and on the water, they’re spread out.

“I agree, [if] we have a case, God forbid, we can reconvene and shut it down at that time,” Murphy said.

“Where I stand with it is to close the parks,” he said. “Seeing what I saw this weekend at Hodges Park, there were close to 80 people there. That’s a lot of people in a small area. That was a little concerning. I think the influx we saw at the boat ramp was early in the season, people wanted to get out of the house, and we saw an unnatural event.”

“I’ve had many calls,” Commissioner Thomas Demps said. “I haven’t had one yet to call me and tell me to close the boat ramps. I have people ask me, ‘If you’re going to close the boat ramps, are you going to close Walmart?’

“I don’t believe a soul will leave Georgia or South Carolina to come down here with a 101-degree fever,” Demps said. “You probably got more people going to the beach with a fever from Taylor County than you would have from Georgia.”

When it came time to formally vote on the issue, the commission voted unanimously to close all county parks and buildings. As for boat ramps, Moody made a motion to keep them open, with a second from Murphy. The vote was 4-1, with Feagle voting against.

The board agreed to reconvene in the event of a confirmed positive case in Taylor County.

Although the meeting lasted nearly 90 minutes, those who called in and attempted to listen to the meeting via a conference call were unable to hear any of the proceedings.

County Administrator LaWanda Pemberton said county staff had successfully tested the system multiple times over two days, adding that staff decided prior to the meeting to move it the Taylor County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) from the board’s usual meeting room to improve the sound quality.

However, as the meeting was about to begin, the system was apparently overloaded by the number of people calling in, Pemberton said. Although the system has a “mute all” feature to mute the audio from those calling in, it failed to work during the meeting.

All five commissioners called into the meeting themselves and could be heard on a recording made of the meeting. [Correction: All five commissioners were present at the EOC during the meeting.] That recording is available on the county’s website at: www.taylorcountygov.com.

Pemberton said they attempted to use a conference call instead of other teleconferencing services in order to allow the most people to participate, including those without computers or smart phones. She added that there had been reports earlier Wednesday of internet issues in Steinhatchee.

During the meeting, after each commissioner had a chance to speak, the board attempted to allow public comment, but still could not use the “mute all” function on the call to allow anyone to speak.

County Attorney Conrad Bishop suggested including in the minutes that “you did everything you possibly could to allow people to comment by phone.”

The board then considered tabling the meeting and reconvening the next morning on the courthouse steps.

Although the board voted unanimously to do just that, they quickly rescinded the decision over health concerns for the public and the commissioners and instead continued the meeting over the phone via conference call.

The board also discussed implementing an 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. public curfew on county residents, but ultimately decided against it at this time.

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