Today’s virtual townhall had a lot of great information for our community. We compiled the key takeaways here.
The
Tahoe Chamber has a resource hub for COVID-19 found here.
The
Chamber will continue to host virtual town halls as well as other virtual
meetings with the different sectors of Tahoe’s economy.
Steve
Teshara, CEO of Tahoe Chamber, encouraged everyone to complete their survey, here.
One
of the most important pieces of information from the Town Hall this morning was
that the Chamber is being contacted by representatives from our State and
Federal Governments as relief and stimulus bills are being debated. The more
they know about your business (by filling out their survey and contacting them
directly) the better they can answer questions and get the help this community
needs.
With
shelter-in-place being declared and all possible health measures in place,
focus by our city government is now shifting to helping business owners and
employees.
The
city council had an emergency session this afternoon to ratify Mayor Collin’s
declaration of emergency for the city of South Lake Tahoe.
Insurance
Claims
are typically made about losses incurred by physical damages. As such, most
policies will not cover economic damage incurred by the pandemic by default.
Work is being down to lobby the State Insurance Commissioner to force policies
to recognize damage caused by the pandemic.
Vacancy
Clauses: If your business is closed for an indefinite amount of time due to
this crisis you run the risk of nullifying or weakening your insurance policy
by violating its vacancy clause. Consult your insurance broker and policy to
find what steps need to be taken to maintain your insurance on your business
assets.
Knowingly
allowing a sick employee to continue working can open you up to serious
liability at this time – tell your employees to stay home if they are sick!
Taxes and Fees
The
City is looking into what measures can be taken to lower this burden on
business owners
How the City will Communicate with Us
The
City’s website will be updated. All of
the council meetings are live-streamed and available as video on demand.
Mayor
Collin will be doing interviews on Lake Tahoe TV.
City Emergency Declaration
The
declaration allows the City to access state and federal funds.
The
declaration also puts a moratorium on residential evictions for the duration of
the emergency or May 31, whichever is sooner.
From
today’s city council meeting: The city can potentially issue the same
moratorium for commercial properties under the Governor’s executive order.
However it wouldn’t be as straightforward to implement legally. The City
Council wants to hear more about this and is willing to meet and potentially
implement it in future sessions.
Expanded Police Response and Enforcement
A
question was asked about increased patrols to protect empty businesses during
the emergency, however the only answer was the police department is handling
it.
Another
question was asked if police enforcement or fines will be levied on businesses
not complying with shelter in place directives. The city has not made a
decision regarding that yet.
Restaurants
staying open will be their own decision. The Chamber has a list of restaurants
open here.
Talk to your insurance agent, your landlord, suppliers… everyone
you do business with on a regular basis!
This
was reiterated over and over. Each relationship will be personal and unique. It
will be necessary to go advocate for yourself and your business to work with
your regular business partners to find workable solutions through this
crisis.