Mayor Issues Emergency Executive Order

“Stay at Home” is a mandate, not a suggestion

by Dennis Rahm

As expected, Chelan Mayor Bob Goedde issued an Emergency Executive Order on Thursday, April 16, regarding short term rentals within the city limits in response to the COVID-19 emergency.

The order is similar to an amended declaration issued earlier this week by the Chelan County Commission. It came as a surprise to the Mayor when the County resolution made clear the restrictions only applied to the unincorporated areas of the county, and not to the cities of Wenatchee, Chelan, Leavenworth, Cashmere and Entiat.

During this week’s conference call of the Chelan-Manson Leadership Response Team, Mayor Goedde informed the group of his plans to issue the emergency declaration saying that someone needs to get the attention of non-residents, especially those from Western Washington, to stop coming to Chelan at this time.

“They are doing what the Governor said not to do,” said the Mayor. Goedde indicated that statistics show the Lake Chelan Valley is a hotspot for the virus and that there is a need to stop the transfer of the virus wherever it is coming from and going to.

Barry Kling of the Chelan-Douglas Health District informed the leadership group that as of Thursday morning there are 93 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the two county area. 26 cases have been confirmed in the Lake Chelan Valley with 15 in Chelan, 7 in Manson and 4 in Chelan Falls.

Kling said it’s not clear whether the virus has peaked yet and that it may take another week or so to know more. He also said social distancing is working better than health officials had dared hope, but noted the importance of continuing to practice social distancing saying, “we are not out of the woods yet and that’s a tough pill to swallow.”