MAY 1, 2020, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
CDC updates
symptom list
for COVID-19
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
has added several new symptoms to its existing list for
COVID-19.
Fever, cough and shortness of breath are indications
that someone might have the disease caused by the novel
coronavirus. On Monday, April 27, the CDC added six
more conditions that may come with the disease: chills,
repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore
throat and new loss of taste or smell.
Children have similar symptoms to adults and gener-
ally have mild illness.
Even with the updates, the list is not all inclusive.
Those experiencing symptoms associated with the vi-
rus should consult their medical provider for any other
symptoms that are severe or concerning.
If you have any of these emergency warning signs for
COVID-19 get medical attention immediately: trouble
breathing, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, new
confusion or inability to arouse, bluish lips or face.
Charter task force opts for
status quo on major change
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Recommendations for alter-
ing the Keizer city charter will
be relatively minor except for
the removal of language that
marginalized LGBTQ+ resi-
dents.
A task force that reviewed
the entire document is ex-
pected to vote on its fi nal draft
Tuesday, May 5, at 6 p.m.
In a limited public forum
held Tuesday, April 21, the
task force received testimony
on four outstanding questions:
whether to continue voting for
city council candidates at large
or by ward; continuing to re-
quire head-to-head contests
for specifi c seats or switch to
a ranked choice voting system;
changing the terms of council-
ors to two years instead of four;
and what to do when a vacan-
cy occurs (either have the sit-
ting councilors appoint a new
person or move toward having
special elections in some cir-
cumstances).
The group opted to main-
tain the status quo on all four
counts, but wants the city
council to encourage addition- that the same councilors who
al public input when it takes up were asking not to change it
the recommendation – hoping had benefi ted from the system
that, by then, some of the mea- in the past.
De Blasi prepared maps
sures to contain COVID-19
showing where all city council-
will be eased.
The question of ward- ors for the past 30 years lived
and the results of
based
voting
the contests. The
prompted the
data is striking.
most
discus-
Since
1990,
sion, including
only fi ve coun-
a Facebook dis-
cil
candidates
cussion thread
emerged from the
in which six
area south of Che-
current or for-
mawa Road North
mer city coun-
and east of River
cilors chimed
Road North. Only
in against the
one candidate won
change. Cur-
their race.
rently, all city
By contrast, in
council mem-
southwest Keizer –
bers are vot-
south of Chemawa
ed on at large
meaning candi-
— Mike De Blasi and west of River
Road – 20 of 25
dates can arise
candidates won a
from anywhere
in the city and are expected to seat on the council. The Gubser
neighborhood fared similarly
represent all sectors equally.
The lone proponent of the well, it produced 27 candidates
idea, as far as public testimo- and 20 of them won.
“The people saying don’t
ny went, was Mike De Blasi
a longtime volunteer on city change are the same ones who
committees. De Blasi noted have benefi ted from the system
to swamp those from the un-
derrepresented areas. The re-
sults also show in how funding
and resources are distributed,”
De Blasi said.
He didn’t present direct ev-
idence as to how funding was
distributed unevenly between
different zones in Keizer.
Another Keizer resident,
Carol Doerfl er, submitted writ-
ten testimony against a shift to
wards saying it had not received
enough discussion.
Pat Fisher, a member of the
“The people
saying don’t
change are
the same
ones who
have benefi t-
ed from the
system.”
task force, said it was a diffi cult
call to make “because we still
don’t know what the general
public perception is. The at-
tempt is to get broader partici-
pation on the council.”
When a vote was called for,
however, all members of the
task force in attendance via
video conference recommend-
ed keeping at large voting in
place.
The only other topic where
differing views were on display
was when it came to making a
switch to ranked choice voting
rather than head-to-head con-
tests for specifi c seats. In ranked
choice voting, voters would
rank the candidates according
to their preference and the top
candidates would fi ll whichever
seats were available.
Fisher and Kathy Lincoln
advocated for the change.
“In the current system, you
could have two good candi-
dates running for one seat and
two bad candidates running
for another. One good candi-
date is going to lose and one
bad one is going to win,” Lin-
coln said, implying that both of
the “good” candidates stood a
chance of serving on the coun-
cil with a ranked choice system.
The task force members
wanted to have more chances to
discuss the changes at commu-
nity meetings during the past
60 days, but those plans were
sidelined by the pandemic. The
task force is forging ahead be-
cause the city is trying to meet
deadlines to put the changes
on the November ballot. Voters
will have to approve all changes
before they take effect.
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