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TAMPA — Hillsborough Commission Chairman Les Miller Jr. thinks the emergency group guiding public response to the coronavirus pandemic might need to retire.
Next week, he will ask his fellow commissioners to consider repealing or modifying the county authority that set up the Emergency Policy Group, often referred to by the EPG acronym.
The group includes eight voting members, but just three Hillsborough County Commissioners. The mayors of Tampa, Plant City, Temple Terrace, the sheriff and the Hillsborough County School Board chairwoman also have voting authority on the emergency responses affecting 1.4 million people.
Earlier public debates over proposed stay-at-home orders, curfews and mask-wearing recommendations revealed a clear division on the panel with Plant City Mayor Rick Lott, Acting Temple Terrace Mayor Andy Ross, Sheriff Chad Chronister and School Board Chairwoman Melissa Snively showing reluctance to support policy suggestions from Miller, fellow Commissioner Kimberly Overman or Tampa Mayor Jane Castor,
The most recent face-mask order was approved 5-3 with swing votes coming from Ross and Commissioner Sandy Murman. Miller, however, acknowledged afterward he considered voting against the mask order he had championed after Ross successfully pushed through an amendment regarding the state law governing concealed weapons permit holders.
Miller said his pitch to end or alter the policy group is not guided by frustration, but by population growth and a changing mission. The Emergency Policy Group dates back decades when the county’s population was approximately 500,000 and it was created with the intent to respond to weather emergencies, he said.
“It has become apparent that the pandemic is a different challenge and the EPG has limited enforcement options and the Board of County Commissioners has broader authority to enforce those options,‘' Miller said Wednesday.
“I felt that it was critical to the health and well being of the county that the commission consider returning those powers back to the county commission.‘'
A case in point is a proposal from Overman to allow workers to wear masks at their job sites even if their employers frown upon it. It is scheduled to be considered by commissioners after the Emergency Policy Group panned the idea.
“It boggled my mind that I couldn’t get an audience at the EPG,‘' said Overman.
“If I have to come back to the county commission to get it done, it does question if we can address a public health emergency with the structure of the EPG.‘'
Miller, also chairman of the Emergency Policy Group, has scheduled a commission discussion of his idea for July 15. He said the commission could decide to eliminate the current make-up of the Emergency Policy Group and return the authority to the commission as a whole, keep the group in place to respond to hurricanes only, or leave the status quo. He said he believed Hillsborough County was the only locale in the state that delegates the emergency response to an entity other than the county commission.
Coincidentally, Tampa attorney Patrick Leduc, who is suing the county over the face-mask rule, amended his complaint Wednesday morning contending the latest order also is unconstitutional, The suit states the order, approved Monday, violates the First Amendment because it requires businesses to make public address announcements to customers about face mask requirements.
Included in the suit, filed on behalf of three business owners, is Leduc’s own push to dismantle the Emergency Policy Group.
“It is simply not unreasonable to say, at this point, given this history, that the EPG is completely lost and totally out of control. It is far past time for this honorable court to put them out of their misery,‘' the suit states.
The lawsuit aside, Miller’s idea may be welcomed by some commissioners.
Commissioner Mariella Smith questioned the make-up of the emergency policy group three months ago, In an interview then, she wondered why the small-city mayors and the Hillsborough School Board chairwoman can vote on issues affecting 1.4 million residents, but Smith, who is elected countywide, cannot.
“I think it’s time we take a look at that,‘' said Miller.
In May, Castor said the group should be restructured to give Florida’s third-largest city more power.
“I do agree that after we go through this COVID-19 situation and make it safely through hurricane season that we should revisit the number of individuals on there, " Castor said. “For us to have 400,000 in our community and Plant City and Temple Terrace have around 80,000 combined residents, I think we should just discuss the structure.”
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