Lewiston City Councilor John Bradbury tried to use the coronavirus outbreak to argue for his desire to make Lewiston a strong-mayor city Monday night, but the city’s fire chief said the local form of government has no bearing on regional preparations for the disease.

“If there ever was an argument for an executive authority independent of the city council, this is such a situation,” Bradbury said during the portion of Monday’s regular meeting when councilors can discuss anything on their mind. “I’m not saying that everybody that’s involved in the city hasn’t done everything that they can, but they don’t have the executive authority to take the bull by the horns and see that what needs to be done in a timely fashion is done.”

City Councilor Bob Blakey responded by calling Lewiston Fire Department Chief Travis Myklebust to the microphone to ask about efforts to get ready for the disease, which has no local confirmed cases. Myklebust said there have been too many meetings over the last month to count, including a major one Monday between emergency response agencies like his, Washington and Idaho health departments, hospitals and other medical facilities, individual physicians and nursing homes.

He said the health departments and emergency response agencies have been conducting inventories to ensure they have adequate protective equipment for their personnel, which they do. And public health officials ensured him that they are able to utilize existing protocols to test for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

“So, actually, I was very impressed sitting there as an emergency responder knowing that our region and our community in the (Lewiston-Clarkston) Valley are planning and they are doing a very good job in how we’re handling it, and how we have that communication model,” Myklebust said.

Blakey, clearly responding to Bradbury’s contention that the city might be in better shape with a strong mayor rather than a city manager, continued his line of questioning.

“Does our form of government prevent you from doing your job?” Blakey asked.

“I don’t believe so,” Myklebust said. “Our partnerships and relationships are probably key. Knowing the faces. We meet way ahead of these things. When I walk into a room with 30 people and I knew 95 percent of them because we do meetings and we do tabletops and exercises. I believe that we have the necessary tools between the state and the local (agencies) to do what we need to do.”

Blakey asked if Myklebust needed the city council or city manager to approve emergency measures, like deploying the fire department’s isolation unit to safely transport an infected patient.

“No sir,” Myklebust said.

Bradbury rebutted by pointing out that neither Myklebust nor the city manager had the executive authority to commit the city to any kind of cooperative pact with neighboring counties. But Myklebust said those kinds of cooperation already exist through the multiple mutual aid agreements the city has with counties, cities, fire districts and others.

“Because we’re on the borders, we already work so closely with the state health departments, both in Washington and Idaho,” he said. “I don’t know what we would need from the city council because we already have those.”

Myklebust also said the coronavirus response is being coordinated by the local Washington and Idaho health districts, which are overseen directly by each state’s governor.

He added that one of his major takeaways from the large joint coronavirus response meeting earlier Monday was direction from public health officials for people who are worried that they may have been exposed to not go to their local health departments, which don’t have the clinicians to do proper testing. Instead, they should call their primary care providers so they can be screened over the phone and not go into a clinic where they can potentially expose others, he said.

Lewiston Community Development Director Laura Von Tersch also described how city staffers are preparing for the epidemic to arrive, including an assessment of their capabilities to work remotely. They are also discussing how and when to close buildings if necessary, reduce services or alter their delivery.

For example, she said Parks and Recreation Director Tim Barker is working on how to change the city’s senior nutrition program to prevent the spread of pathogens by doing things like having guests sanitize their hands before entering the dining room at the Lewiston Community Center, and having staff serve the food rather than allowing the seniors to help themselves.

“It’s a very fluid situation, so as circumstances change our response is going to change,” she said.

Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2266.