After telling Longmont city staff to prepare for an ordinance that would make it illegal for Longmont hospitals to provide care for Weld County residents, Mayor Brian Bagley said he will not pursue the ordinance in a statement issued Wednesday evening.
In an email sent Tuesday morning, Bagley initially directed city staff to prepare an ordinance that would make it illegal for any Longmont health care provider, including Longmont United Hospital or UCHealth’s Longs Peak Hospital, “to provide medical services to any resident of a county or municipality wherein their elected officials have refused to comply with the governor’s emergency orders, so long as there is a resident of a county or municipality that does comply with the governor’s emergency orders needing access to Longmont hospitals.”
Bagley’s memo came after Weld County’s Board of County Commissioners issued a statement Friday that Weld plans to ignore the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s decision to elevate Weld on the COVID-19 dial to Level Red, mandating more severe restrictions for that county.
But Bagley issued a follow up statement Wednesday evening announcing he will not pursue an ordinance or denial of health care.
“When I called out our neighboring county and its elected officials for publicly refusing to enforce the law, I did so out of concern for all of Longmont’s residents who are impacted by the poor decisions of some individuals and the public officials who are failing to do their duty to uphold the laws that are being put in place to protect us all, regardless of party loyalty, political conviction, or county of residence,” the statement said.
Bagley said he felt it was incumbent to “shine a light on how one group’s refusal to act in the public interest impacts us all.” Bagley said now that he has succeeded in bringing light to the issue, he will not pursue the ordinance.
Bagley said he will discuss the topic with councilmembers next week to explore solutions.
“And I will continue to advocate that we all respect, apply, and enforce the laws of the state of Colorado – regardless of which side of County Line Road we reside on — and that we collectively support the efforts of our public health agencies to protect lives and livelihoods in our cities, counties, state, and beyond,” the statement said.
In the Tuesday email requesting the ordinance, Bagley wrote that Weld County, while refusing to comply with orders from the state health department and Gov. Jared Polis’ coronavirus emergency executive order, “has nearly reached maximum hospital capacity and yet still continues to ignore the governor’s emergency orders.”
Bagley said Longmont, which has complied with the governor’s orders, “thereby, has available hospital beds and medical staff … whereas Weld County points to the hospital capacity in neighboring Longmont … to suggest Weld County has access to necessary hospital services in the event their own hospital systems reach capacity.”
Representatives of Weld County’s government could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening, but the county commissioners reacted strongly to Bagley’s proposal on Tuesday.
“The answer to this pandemic is not solely to close down small businesses the week of Thanksgiving; it is not to continually punish working-class families or the individuals who bag your groceries, wait on you in restaurants, deliver food to your home while you watch Netflix and chill; and it is certainly not to illegally deny healthcare to residents. But that is what this simple Mayor wants to do,” the Tuesday statement read.
Kevin Massey, a spokesperson for Centura Health’s Longmont United Hospital, said in a Wednesday evening statement “Our caregivers at Centura-Longmont United Hospital look forward to continuing our mission of service to all in our community who are in need of our compassionate care.”
Representatives from UCHealth’s Longs Peak Hospital could not be reached for comment by publication deadline.
In Bagley’s statement Wednesday, he said Longmont is a better city “for its diversity and the inclusion of portions of two counties within its municipal boundary. My comments were not intended to exclude any of our residents, but rather to shine a light on the importance of acting in a unified way to protect our healthcare systems, and to keep our community healthy and our businesses open.”
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November 26, 2020 at 09:01AM
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Longmont mayor reverses course on restricting health care for Weld County residents - Longmont Times-Call
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