Here’s how to comment during county commission meeting as coronavirus limits attendance

Sedgwick County has established a way for people to comment during county commission meetings as members of the public and the media are barred from the meetings because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Sedgwick County Commission is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday, but attendance will be restricted “to maintain safe social distancing and adhere to the limit on public gatherings of 10 people,” officials said in a news release. The meeting will be broadcast via KPTS.

Public comment may be provided by email, and the comments “will be read or placed into record at the meeting,” according to county officials. Comments may be emailed to communications@sedgwick.gov before 5 p.m. Tuesday.

The emailed public comment opportunity comes as one county commissioner says he will ask his colleagues during the meeting to temporarily ban abortions as part of the stay-at-home order designed to slow the spread of the new coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19. Commissioners Michael O’Donnell, Jim Howell and David Dennis — a majority of the commission — told The Eagle they would like to close the Trust Women clinic in Wichita during the emergency.

O’Donnell said he wants to strip abortion clinics from the list of “essential” businesses that can stay open during the county and state stay-at-home orders and will make the proposal on Wednesday. The county commission, which also serves as the county board of health, can only make recommendations to the local public health officer. The local health officer’s stay-at-home order is superseded by a similar order by the governor.

A federal judge on Monday stopped Texas from closing abortion clinics amid the pandemic after the state’s governor ordered all procedures that are not medically necessary be postponed.

This story was originally published March 30, 2020 at 6:51 PM.