Woodland’s city leadership has formally pushed back on statewide mandates for COVID-19 vaccines in certain public and private industries as they approved a resolution that also states city employees won’t need to be vaccinated to keep their jobs.
During a well-attended special meeting on Aug. 26, Woodland City Council voted 5-0 to approve a resolution expressing support for workers to not be vaccinated against COVID-19. In August, Gov. Jay Inslee issued proclamations requiring all state government employees and contractors, health care industry workers, and K-12 education employees to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18 as a condition of employment.
Apart from publicly stating support for those affected by the mandates, the resolution also pledged “not to require any vaccination at the risk of losing employment to the employees of the city of Woodland and encourage other employers in our community and across the state to do the same.”
The resolution also “strongly suggest(s)” that Inslee rescind the initial proclamation of a state of emergency given in February 2020, and calls for a special legislative session to analyze the governor’s use of emergency powers regarding COVID-19 restrictions.
More than a dozen members of the public testified in support of the resolution, while two opposed it. Though he could not vote on the resolution, Woodland Mayor Will Finn expressed his “full support” for it, taking into question the governor’s legal authority to make such a mandate.
“There’s questions whether or not this is legal — the times that we’re in and the emergency powers that our tyrannical leader of our state is imposing on us,” Finn said. “It goes well beyond vaccines and whether or not we’re going to put a substance into our body or not. … This is the first step to losing even more.”
Councilor Benjamin Fredricks called the mandate a “clear violation of the U.S. Constitution,” pointing to the lack of legislative process in making the mandates.
“A lot of families in this state, and Oregon and California, are having to make some very difficult decisions about possibly leaving their employment and moving to a state where they can live without fear of a tyrannical governor,” Fredricks said.
Councilor Janice Graham said she has family members who either had adverse reactions to the vaccines or who had died from COVID-19 unvaccinated, complicating her view on inoculation.
“For myself, with those different things going on, it took me a long time to come together in my own thinking of being vaccinated,” Graham said, adding she has since gotten fully vaccinated. Ultimately she put her support behind the resolution on the basis of freedom.
“I think it’s terrible that somebody is forcing you into something, that you cannot have your own free will, to do what you want to with your body,” Graham said.
Councilor DeeAnna Holland said she didn’t view her support of the resolution as a political statement, but as support for “basic human rights.”
“If you’re an American citizen, you’re afforded the right to choose what you do with yourself,” Holland said. “To lose your job because you don’t want to take a medical procedure, that in itself is horrific.”
Councilor Dave Plaza, who introduced the resolution, spoke the most about his support. He likened the COVID-19 vaccine mandates to forcing treatments for seasonal influenza, calling the COVID-19 vaccine itself a “treatment” because it didn’t provide complete immunity to the virus, as seen through breakthrough cases.
“The issue we’re having isn’t so much in the exaggerated, out of context and fear-inducing messages coming from the governor. We’ve all grown used to that over the last year and a half,” Plaza said. “The issue is should we as a free people kneel down and submit to any mandate given by the governor as long as he claims it’s for the public welfare. Should he be able to force people to inject something into their bodies against their will or be punished with the loss of their or their family’s livelihood?”
Plaza also said Inslee’s mandates violated constitutional rights, saying in Washington there is “no law or regulation that conditions public or private employment on any form of vaccine or other medical procedure.” He said the governor’s actions are “potentially criminal” by using the threat of job loss on those subject to the vaccine mandate.
“In fact, his behavior is virtually indistinguishable from someone engaging in quid pro quo,” Plaza said.
Plaza took issue with the reasoning behind the governor’s mandates, which focused on the possibility that the state’s hospital system would be overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.
“If Inslee thought our hospitals were going to be overwhelmed before, wait until he loses a large percentage of hospital doctors, nurses, hospital employees and volunteers because he has them fired for refusing to inject unwanted substances into their body,” Plaza said.
