2022 COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement Policy Vote

Title

2022 COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement Policy Vote

Sponsor

Ryan Pierce

Co-Sponsors

Names of at least two members eligible to vote (handle + real name)

• NewFatMike/Mike Thompson
• Alex Berkowitz
• folf / Skylar Nova
• crankymuffin / Brian Adamson
• garyn / gary newhouse
• Andrew Camardella
• Toba / Eric Stein

Vote Results

 Quorum:[48]
 Yea Votes: [175]  
 Nay Votes: [52]
 Present or Abstain: [8] 

The vote passed.

Schedule

Proposal Date

Date this proposal was posted to the membership and a request for a vote date was sent to the Board.

December 28, 2021

Member Input

Does the Sponsor choose to open the language of the vote for changes due to member input? (optional and can be modified at any time)

[X] YES [ ] NO

Vote Announcement and Beginning Date of the Discussion Period

The announcement date of the vote proposal is the beginning date of the seven-day (minimum) posting and Member discussion period. (Certain exceptional vote types have longer discussion periods. Check the Bylaws if you are unsure.) If the Sponsor has chosen to include member input, suggested edits can be made in a shared document or other collaborative vehicle until the language is locked. The sponsor can stop taking suggestions at any time.

December 29, 2021

Language Lock Date and Start of Voting

Five days prior to the Day of the Vote, the vote language is locked, all edits are frozen, and the language of the vote is converted to a pdf file. Ballots that include the pdf are sent to the Membership, and electronic voting begins. Note that the minimum discussion period of seven days leaves only two days for changes before the lock takes place.

January 6, 2022

Day of the Vote

Date the Board has assigned for the vote. The Day of the Vote is the day the vote closes.

January 11, 2022

Background

The City of Chicago has issued Public Health Order 2021-2 that mandates COVID-19 vaccination in certain indoor places, effective January 3, 2022. These include establishments where food and beverages are served, gyms and fitness venues, and entertainment and recreation venues. Pumping Station: One does not appear to be included under the City of Chicago order. However, persons do consume food and beverages in PS:One, and many people spend extended periods of time using PS:One facilities, potentially in proximity to others. Given the extreme risk to health posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and in particular the recent sharp rise of cases in Chicago, it follows that PS:One should choose to require COVID-19 vaccination when gyms, theaters, and restaurants in the city are mandated to do so.

PS:One is in a unique position in that it has no staff to enforce compliance. The RFID access control system can serve this purpose. Persons submit proof of vaccination, and a Board-designated person can check this and update the member's record in Wild Apricot. This will enable RFID access. Members must not open the door to admit persons not fully vaccinated. Members are responsible for checking the vaccine status of their guests. For open events, the event host must check vaccine status of non-members.

The City of Chicago allows for medical exemption from vaccination, but in that case requires a COVID test <72 hours old. One possible system for implementing this would be for members with medical exemptions to e-mail their test results to a designated address. Their RFIDs could be kept enabled on an "honor code" basis. The Board, or their designee, could then audit this by generating a report of RFID access by unvaccinated members with medical exemptions, and then correlating this with the e-mailed test results.

Synopsis

This policy, if enacted, takes effect January 24, 2022. Members must provide proof of full COVID-19 vaccination via a method determined by the Board prior to entering the space, and their RFID will be locked until they do so. Members may not bypass this requirement by being admitted by other members. Members are responsible for checking the COVID-19 vaccination status of their guests. For events open to the general public, the member hosting the event must check vaccine cards and must ask anyone to leave who is not vaccinated. Signs will be posted at entrances. Only documented medical exceptions to this policy will be considered, and they must be approved by the DRC.

Implementation and Data Retention

The co-sponsors of this vote have identified a technology solution as a proposed initial implementation. Nothing in this section shall be construed as binding the Board to accept this implementation or to prevent the Board from changing it at a future date.

Members can submit vaccination card images via Airtable. The data retained in Airtable will include an image of the vaccination card or other record, the date(s) and vaccine type(s)/manufacturer(s) of vaccinations and booster(s), if any, and information such as name, e-mail address, etc. to associate the Airtable entry with the member's entry in Wild Apricot. While the current policy only requires full vaccination, collecting information now about boosters means that, if the CDC and Chicago definitions later change to require boosters, such data would already be available, at least for some members, which will reduce the future impact should the space choose to require boosters as well.

Volunteers will check the vaccination card image against the data provided, correcting it if necessary, and approve it. An automated process will take the approved Airtable data and import it into Wild Apricot as a Boolean field to indicate whether the member meets vaccination requirements. On January 24, the code handling export of Wild Apricot data to the space's RFID access system will be modified to grant access only if this Boolean field is true. An advantage of this process is that Airtable has more granular security than Wild Apricot, so keeping detailed vaccination data in Airtable means a minimum number of persons will have access to it, and Wild Apricot, which by necessity has more persons with administrative access, will only hold the summary Boolean.

We anticipate leaving the RFID tag of all persons granted medical exemptions enabled. Such persons are trusted on their honor not to access the premises without first submitting documentation of a negative COVID-19 test administered by a medical professional within 72 hours of the time of entrance. Airtable will also be used for submission of these test results. This will be audited by volunteers, based on access logs generated by the RFID system of persons with medical exemptions. Evidence of access to the premises without submission of a negative COVID-19 test will prompt an inquiry, and any person who cannot produce negative COVID-19 tests corresponding to their access of the premises will be referred to the Dispute Resolution Committee for possible disciplinary action.

Statement of Volunteer Resources

The language of the vote empowers the Board to approve the process for implementing this vaccine mandate, including designating the persons responsible for implementing it. With that said, the vote co-sponsors do not intend this vote to be a burden on the Board. As such, the co-sponsors assert that, along with Ron Olson, we collectively have the necessary technical expertise with the space's IT systems to implement this proposal, and that if so designated, we commit to volunteering to do so in the timeframe outlined by this vote. The co-sponsors also commit, if designated, to serve as the initial group of volunteers who will validate submitted vaccine card data for all current members.

Language of the Vote

The Membership enacts the following policy:

Effective January 24, 2022, no person eligible for receiving COVID-19 vaccination may enter Pumping Station: One premises unless they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The initial definition of "eligible for receiving COVID-19 vaccination" means any person 5 years of age or older. The initial definition of "fully vaccinated against COVID-19" means that at least 2 weeks have elapsed after taking the second dose of a 2 dose mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) or at least 2 weeks have elapsed after taking a single dose COVID-19 vaccine (Johnson & Johnson Jannsen.) These definitions may be updated by majority vote of the Board of Directors based upon CDC and other public health guidance.

Members must provide proof of vaccination via a method approved by the Board of Directors prior to accessing Pumping Station: One premises. Technical controls shall deny access to members who have not provided proof of vaccination.

No person may admit any member to the space who has not provided proof of vaccination via a method approved by the Board of Directors.

The vaccination status of any guests of a member must be checked by the hosting member before entrance is granted.

The vaccination status of non-members attending events open to the general public must be checked by the member hosting the event, and should a non-member fail to present proof of full vaccination, that non-member shall be required to exit the premises immediately.

A sign indicating that COVID-19 vaccination is required shall be posted conspicuously at each building entrance.

Persons may request exemption from this policy based on a documented medical reason. The Dispute Resolution Committee, or any group or committee designated by majority vote of the Board of Directors, will hear and grant or deny requests for exemption. Persons granted exemption from the vaccination requirement must provide documentation of a negative COVID-19 test administered by a medical professional within 72 hours prior to entering Pumping Station: One premises. The Board of Directors shall designate a mechanism for persons with medical exemptions to submit documentation of testing and shall create a process to enable access to the space for such persons.