The Carroll City Council has a somewhat light agenda for their meeting scheduled for Monday, Jan. 10. Like many mid- to large-sized employers throughout the country, the city is preparing to implement policies and procedures for the COVID-19 vaccine/testing mandate from the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) set to go into effect next week. According to City Manager, Mike Pogge-Weaver, they have around 150 municipal employees depending on the time of year and will be required to comply. He says a resolution to formally adopt the regulations is on the agenda for Monday.
The OSHA mandate continues to face legal challenges, and the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the issue yesterday (Friday). Regardless of when and how the court rules, Pogge-Weaver says it seemed prudent to include it on the agenda due to the risk of significant penalties for noncompliance.
On Friday, Iowa Division of Labor Commissioner, Rod Roberts, filed notice Iowa OSHA would not be adopting or enforcing the federal OSHA mandate. According to the Iowa OSHA website, Iowa operates an OSHA-approved State Plan and has adopted federal OSHA standards. As of Friday evening, the U.S. Supreme Court was yet to issue a ruling on the constitutionality of the regulations. City officials will still have the option to take some form of action because the resolution was already on the agenda for Monday’s meeting. However, it is not clear at this time if they will. Pogge-Weaver says the other major item on the agenda is a review of the council’s 2022 work plan.
The Monday, Jan. 10 meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m. in the council chambers at Carroll City Hall. The full council packet can be found included below.
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Carroll-City-Council-Agenda-Packet-Jan.-10-2022
