Gov. DeSantis executive order updates rules for local meetings and teleconferencing

City Councilor Jared Grifoni called the governor's order extremely helpful for local government, adding that it would allow for meetings to take place while adhering to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Health Guidelines.

"The Sunshine Law is still in effect but this Executive Order will now allow the City Council, the elected representatives of the city of Marco Island, to be on-call and participate in key decisions when necessary during the state of the emergency," Grifoni said.

Read more here:

Naples Daily News, 3/20/20, by Devan Patel

COVID-19 Update as of 3/18/20

There have been a lot of updates over the last few days and weeks that impact our city and our residents. First and foremost, please be sure to check the city's COVID-19 website where you can find all the official communications released by the city, city manager, and other important updates. You can visit the site by clicking here: https://www.cityofmarcoisland.com/emergency If you are on Facebook you can follow my page where I am sharing important information consistently here: https:// www.facebook.com/jaredgrifoni/ "From the beginning we have mirrored exactly the recommendation coming from the CDC on response protocols. Over the course of the last week, concluding with the Executive Order put out by Governor DeSantis, those steps have been in my opinion fairly aggressive, and we continue to mirror them.

All of the public beach parking on Marco Island is closed.  The only lot that is open is the Residents Beach lot, which is owned and operated by the Marco Island Civic Association, and allows only resident members.  That is their decision, and they have indicated to me that they will continue to consider closing.  As an alternative, they are informing all attendees regarding recommended distancing guidelines and providing staff to enforce them." - City Manager Mike McNees To dispel a rumor that has been floating around, there has been NO CONFIRMED POSITIVE case of COVID-19 on Marco Island as of yesterday, which I confirmed with the City Manager. Of course, as more testing is done and the longer we are dealing with the spread, that could change. If and when it does, it will be shared with the public as all other cases in Collier, the state of Florida, and elsewhere have been. There are currently 13 confirmed positive cases and 37 negative cases with 53 pending in Collier County as of today according to the Florida Department of Health. The Florida Department of Health has launched a site that shows the confirmed cases of COVID-19 by county within the State of Florida which you can find here: https://fdoh.maps. arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/ index.html#/8d0de33f260d444c852a615dc7837c86 Pursuant to yesterday's Executive Order from Governor DeSantis, bars and clubs are closed (no alcohol sales) for the next 30 days, restaurants are at 50% reduced capacity and are to encourage take out/ carry out. Groups must be less than 10 (in line with current CDC guidelines) and must be at least 6 feet apart (social distancing CDC guideline). Groups must be no larger than 10 on beaches as well as a minimum of 6 feet apart. Our Marco Island Community Service Officers were out today guiding and enforcing that. Those standards are now the baseline for the entire state of Florida per Governor DeSantis' executive order today and would be in line with Florida Department of Health recommendations. The City Manager also met with the managers of the major hotels yesterday and they are committed to following the same guidelines throughout their properties, including the beach. Some examples from them: closing restaurants, eliminating valet parking, and testing employees plus social distancing for guests. "Reports the hotels were advertising to attract East coast or customers from other markets were found to be false." Today, the City Manager shared that within the City government, internal meeting sizes have been limited with appropriate distances from participants, that items and locations onsite are being professionally cleaned continuously, including at Mackle Park. Telecommuting is authorized where appropriate and that may be broadened in the future. The public is being encouraged to do any business with the city online as well.  I hope this helps shed some light on some of the recent updates as well as corrects some misconceptions. There is much happening and changing on a frequent recurring basis as new information or guidelines are released. We are in this together and we will get through this together as a community. Please let me know if you have any further questions, comments, or suggestions.

Moving forward on Veterans' Community Park without raising city taxes as promised

"I have been in favor of using the one percent (Collier County) sales tax revenue to fully fund the build out which will not require raising city taxes at all." - Jared Grifoni, City Council vice-chair. Read more here: Marco Eagle, 3/10/20

Since Jared has been on City Council, he has strongly supported common-sense improvements to the park site that retain green space without increasing city taxes or adding new city debt.