WHEREAS, the Faculty Senate of the Palomar Community College District is committed to preserving and nurturing public access and participation in its and its subcommittees’ meetings; and
WHEREAS, all meetings of the Palomar Community College District’s Faculty Senate and its subcommittees are open and public, as required by the Ralph M. Brown Act (“Brown Act”), so that any member of the public may attend, participate, and watch these legislative bodies conduct their business; and
WHEREAS, the Brown Act makes provisions for remote teleconferencing participation in meetings by members of a legislative body, without compliance with the requirements of Government Code section 54953(b)(3), subject to the existence of certain conditions; and
WHEREAS, a required condition is that a state of emergency is declared by the Governor pursuant to Government Code section 8625, proclaiming the existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the state caused by conditions as described in Government Code section 8558; and
WHEREAS, a proclamation is made when there is an actual incident, threat of disaster, or extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the jurisdictions that are within the District’s boundaries, caused by natural, technological, or human-caused disasters; and
WHEREAS, it is further required that state or local officials have imposed or recommended measures to promote social distancing, or, the legislative body meeting in person would present imminent risks to the health and safety of attendees; and
WHEREAS, the State Public Health Officer Order of June 11, 2021, encourages Californians to follow the California Department of Public Health guidelines to aid in preventing the spread of COVID-19; and
WHEREAS, as of September 29, 2021, the County of San Diego Health Office reports that the majority of San Diego County is in a High Transmission situation with the Average Daily Case Rate ≥ 14.3 and Testing Positivity ≥ 10.0%1
WHEREAS, the Palomar Community College District has established a comprehensive COVID-19 Recovery Plan2 designed to mitigate the risk of exposure to others on the Palomar College campus and in the greater community; and
WHEREAS, COVID-19 continues to spread and poses risks to the community, students, and employees of the District; and
WHEREAS, the Faculty Senate of the Palomar Community College District does hereby find—based 1 Accessed 9/29/21 12:50 p.m. County of San Diego ~ Covid-19 Case Rate by Zip Code / Jurisdiction https://sdcounty.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/e09887e8e65d4fda847aa04c480dc73f 2 Accessed 9/29/21 12:57 p.m. Palomar College COVID-19 Recovery Plan on the recommendation and guidance from the Palomar Community College District, the California Department of Public Health, and the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency—that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused, and will continue to cause, conditions of peril to the safety of persons within the District that are likely to be beyond the control of services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of the District, and desires to proclaim a local emergency and ratify the proclamation of state of emergency by the Governor of the State of California.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate of the Palomar Community College District hereby authorizes the continued use of remote teleconference for its and its subcommittees’ meetings for the period October 4, 2021, through November 4, 2021, pursuant to Brown Act provisions.