Mayors Phase 1 Update May 15, 2020

As many of you may have heard, Lincoln county Commissioners have submitted a written plan to move our county into phase one of the “reopening Oregon”.

This plan was approved by the Governor and we are approved to move into phase 1 Friday May 15th.

Phase 1

  • Child care and Summer school activities will be allowed with social distancing and other regulations.
  • Outdoor activities- boat ramps parks etc. open with distancing and family only requirements.
  • Restaurant, bars, salons, barbers open with heavy regulations.
  • Gyms and fitness areas opening as well but rules for this are not set yet so this will not happen right away.
  • Groups of 25 local people allowed with social distancing regulations still applying.
  • Travel- essential travel only is still in affect. Local travel is acceptable but not travel outside of your local county unless it falls under essential or emergency travel.

This is to last 21 days as long as we don’t have setbacks. If we have setbacks and if people refuse to follow phase 1 regulations we could be forced take steps backwards rather than forward.

Commissioners, Mayors, County Councils and tribal leadership met tonight about hotels, motels, private owned short term rentals, parks and campgrounds. There was a lot of conversation and many changes were made to the proposed draft. Some Councils have to go back and get a vote so more info will come soon. I would anticipate these to open somewhere between May 25 and June 1.

Boat ramps- Most boat ramps in Lincoln County are now open.
The Siletz River boat ramps (moonshine park, twin bridges, hee hee Illahee, the log and old mill park, aka green thumb) will be opening on Monday May 18th. Fishing guides are still restricted based on the rule that says to be in a boat you must reside in the same household.

For more info on phase 1 please refer to the Lincoln county public health website.

 

What does this mean in Siletz?

Phase 1 will allow:

Businesses such as Little Chief, Dee Ne Gifts and the Siletz Road House to open as long as they can demonstrate that they can follow the Governors guidelines.

Siletz city hall will reopen for visitors Monday morning at regular business hours. As always you will still be expected to talk behind the glass and there is no public restroom.

Our stores could resume to regular business hours and allow 25 or fewer people in the store (practicing social distancing) at a time.

This is not business as usual. This is phase 1 business abbreviated. Do the right thing and follow the mandates and we will move to phase 2 in 21 days.

Be respectful of others space. This will still be a trying time.

Also: if you are a fishing guide and fish on the Siletz River and intend to use boat launches at either Hee Hee Illahee Park or Old Mill Park you are operating a business and you will need to purchase a business license at the Siletz City Hall like every other business. This has not been happening or enforced in the past and we are now going to enforce this.

Once again If you have questions please contact the Lincoln County Health Department. If they are questions specific to Siletz you can PM me and I will do my best to answer.

Have a great weekend folks,

Mayor Will Worman

 

COVID 19 Update – 4/28/2020

We all know that this is a very controversial subject and not all agree that this is the threat it is being treated as. However, it is your council and your commissioner’s job to keep our communities safe from threats or potential threats. We are all acting with human safety as the first priority. We see very few DOCUMENTED cases of COVID 19 here on the coast and we want to keep it that way. As explained today in a joint mayors meeting with our county commissioners only about 1% of our local population has been tested so the threat we all face is still unknown. And as you have seen on the news in other parts of the world/US, this virus has attacked people of all ages. We are not willing to take chances with the health of our community. This clearly creates an even bigger financial downfall for our community and that is nearly as scary as the threat itself.
Please continue to practice social distancing, wear your face masks when appropriate and do your part staying home as much as possible. I know this is very tough but we are all in the same boat folks.
As more information comes forward I will continue to share what I know.

Willie Worman
City of Siletz Mayor