City council Tuesday unanimously passed a less forceful resolution asking neighboring cities to urge Weld County to support temporary restrictions aimed at quelling the spread of COVID-19.
A letter from the city council to the Weld Commissioners demanding the county “respect, adopt, and enforce all applicable state laws regarding the COVID-19 pandemic,” also will be toned down, the council stated.
Council members agreed a slightly quieter tone aimed at Weld County would likely yield better results from the cities.
“The language I would put in ...would be a little softer approach,” Council member Tim Waters told the council. If the resolution would be “more encouraging and a little less demanding, (it) would get a better response from the municipalities,” Waters said.
A final version of the resolution takes out the word "imploring" the Weld County Commssioners to follow the Gov. Jared Polis's temporary restrictions and replaces it with "encouraging." The original resolution also asked communities impacted by Weld to "demand" the county support the governor's temporary restrictions. The amended version takes out "demand' and replaces it with communities to "call" on the Weld County Commissioners.
The new letter from the council also takes out "demand" and replaces it with "encourage that the Weld County Commissioners respect, adopt, and enforce all applicable state laws regarding the COVID-10 pandemic."
The original letter and resolution was aimed at Weld County for not adhering to mandated restrictions under the state’s red level status, which seek to minimize the COVID-19 pandemic in Colorado.
The original letter states that Weld County’s COVID-19 incidence rate is 67 percent higher than Boulder County’s and the county’s two week positivity rate is more than twice as high.
Within Boulder County, Longmont continues to have the highest number of cases of any municipality. “It of course leads us to wonder if these higher case numbers in Longmont are a direct result of the alarming and continuing rise of cases in Weld County,” the letter states.
Places with few or no restrictions, health care systems can become overwhelmed, healthcare workers fall ill, and ICUs and morgues run out of capacity, the letter states.
Council member Aren Rodriguez told the council that Weld County will probably ignore both an amended letter and resolution. But the city council must deliver both with a unanimous voice, he said.
If the resolution is “less demanding, I don’t think we will get the same backlash,” Rodriguez said.
CORRECTION: This version includes the new language adopted by the CIty Council.