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AGENDA
CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
January 11, 2021
4:00 PM, City Council Chambers
130 S Galena Street, Aspen
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I.WORK SESSION
I.A.Consumer Protection Team Report
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City County Work Session – January 11, 2021
City of Aspen Health Protection Team Update
MEMORANDUM
TO:Aspen City Council
FROM:Natalie Tsevdos, Senior Environmental Health Specialist
THROUGH:CJ Oliver, Environmental Health and Sustainability Director
Phillip Supino, Community Development Director
MEETING DATE:January 11, 2021
RE:Health Protection Team Update
PURPOSE: This memo is being provided to give an update on the activity of the Health
Protection Team working to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the Aspen community
through education, support and business outreach.
SUMMARY: The Aspen Health Protection Team continues to provide support to the
business community through education and outreach. The onboarding of two full time
staff members in late summer-early fall allowed the Team to shift from a mostly reactive
to proactive approach heading into winter. Developing communication strategies and
business relationships allowed for planning and outreach before regulatory changes went
into effect and ahead of the holidays. The top goal remains to serve as a resource for
businesses so they can stay up to date on Public Health Orders and in compliance with
local and State regulations. Staff from Police and Parking continue to be an integral part
of the Health Protection Team.
DISCUSSION:The Health Protection Team works in conjunction with our counterparts in
Pitkin County to help ensure COVID safety for our community through a primarily
education and support-based approach. Projects vary from compiling written outreach
materials to working with other departments on signage and messaging to door-to-door
canvasing. Random compliance checks supplement scheduled, one-on-one educational
meetings with businesses. On certain occasions, the team will also support the Pitkin
County Public Health Department on enforcement actions at non-complaint businesses
through documentation of observations.
Before the Halloween and New Year’s holidays, the Team did targeted in-person outreach
and sent written communications to restaurants and events-related companies, such as
valets. During the holiday season, the Health Protection Team spent increased time on
complaint investigation and response as well as making and documenting observations,
sometimes past curfew. Compliance on Halloween and over the New Year’s holiday
weekend was high with mostly minor violations being observed. With the busy holiday
time of year in the rearview mirror, the Team will be conducting follow up businesses visits
to verify long-term correction of Public Health Order violations as well as doing in-depth
assessments in facilities.
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City County Work Session –January 11, 2021
City of Aspen Health Protection Team Update
During the presentation, staff will discuss the specifics of how this work is being done in
addition to highlighting major accomplishments that have taken place regarding this
program to date.Updated data on complaint trends and in which sectors staff are
spending the most time will be shared. More detailed statistics regarding overall
compliance, social distancing measures, and mask zone adherence in businesses will
also be reported.Overall compliance is relatively high as depicted below:
FINANCIAL IMPACT: The budget for this program is $200,000 per year including salaries
and other operating costs. The program is currently budgeted through the end of 2021
with the actual timeframe to be determined by COVID activity as we move forward.
CITY MANAGER COMMENTS:
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