Amid news of McLennan County’s first death from the COVID-19 outbreak, the Waco City Council voted Tuesday to extend the local state disaster order to April 21 and postpone local elections until as late as November.
In an online meeting, Mayor Kyle Deaver mentioned the death had occurred Tuesday morning, but he did not elaborate.
“We’ll have more information about that later as we’re able to share it, but we ask for your prayers, for the family,” Deaver said. The Waco-McLennan County Public Health District listed 39 cases of COVID-19 as of Monday.
McLennan County Commissioners also voted Tuesday to extend the countywide emergency orders to April 21.
The Waco Independent School District board also voted to postpone its election until Nov. 3, with the same caveat as Waco.
Deaver said he made the decision after consulting with local hospitals and the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District.
“Counties in North Central Texas and North Texas are beginning to climb more rapidly,” Deaver said. “We are about two weeks behind the curve that New York is on, and all you have to do is look there to see how devastating this can be and how seriously we must take this here.”
Deaver also said he appreciated the county commissioners’ decision to extend the order.
The council also voted to postpone local elections from May 2 until the general election on Nov. 3, or an earlier date if Gov. Greg Abbott allows it. Deaver said city plans to request that the city hold its election on the July 14 runoff election date.
Kinnaird said he supported the measure, but the council should also prepare for the possibility of COVID-19 spiking again in November, forcing another delay. He said a mail-in or otherwise remote election would be the only way to conduct an election if that happened.
“The election has to happen, and if the environment is such in the fall where we’re having problems such as this, we’re having to reinforce social distancing, in that eventuality, I think we should be working toward contingencies now,” Kinnaird said.
Councilwoman Andrea Barefield said it’s important for the county elections office to be prepared for the governor to approve an earlier election date.
“We can’t be asking for a ‘yes,’ and then get to ‘Uh, I’m not ready to do this,’ so we need to make sure that they’re on board,” Barefield said. “I know we work very closely and succinctly with the county, so I’m hoping the elections office will be ready as well because we’ve already made our ask public.”
District 4 Councilman Dillon Meek spoke about the COVID-19 task forces established during the last council meeting, each chaired by a different council member. Barefield heads the social services task force, District 2 Councilman Hector Sabido heads communication, Kinnaird heads health care and District 5 Councilman Jim Holmes heads the business and banking task force.
“It’s an opportunity for our community to come together and collaborate to respond and make this community even stronger,” Meek said. He works directly with Deaver in lieu of heading a task force.
— WACOTRIB