Tri-City Mayors to Gov. Inslee: reconsider these mandates

KENNEWICK, Wash.-- The mayors of Kennewick, Pasco, Richland, and West Richland have sent a letter to Governor Jay Inslee, stating their opposition to the newest round of COVID-19 closures that went into effect this week.

Kennewick Mayor Don Britain said the governor's order to reduce business traffic is inconsistent with the information from state and local health officials that it's small gatherings that are responsible for the recent spike in cases.

"Some of the contradictory statements that the governor used to support his decisions just didn't make sense to me," Britain told Newsradion 610 KONA. "So, I contacted our city manager and told her my concerns that I wanted to have a response from the city."

Among those contradictions are Inslee's assertion that reducing traffic in retail businesses and closing in-door dining at restaurants will prevent the spread of COVID-19, when state and local health officials have been clear that small, in home gatherings are the primary source of spreading the virus in the most recent spike in cases.

"Our own local health district, as recently as Thursday afternoon-- I have weekly municipal accountability committee meetings with the help department and the other city mayors, city managers, and county commissioners-- the message from the state and the local health district is the surge is not coming from businesses and commercial establishments. It is attributed to small gatherings that are not monitored."

Britain said closing in-door dining will only lead to more of those small group gatherings, and won't help to slow the growth of COVID cases.

At Tuesday night's city council meeting, council members informally offered their support for Britain to sign and send the letter along with the other local mayors, including Ryan Lukson from Richland, Saul Martinez from Pasco, and Brent Gerry from West Richland.

The letter was sent to the Governor's office Wednesday.

Kennewick City Manger Marie Mosley said she spoke with administrators at Benton County and Franklin County, and they advised that commissioners for both counties intended to draft similar letters to forward to Inslee's office.

You can read the full letter HERE.

Listen to Mayor Don Britain's full conversation with Newsradio 610 KONA.