2,300 COVID-19 complaints have been filed in SLO County — only 2 cities have issued citations
More than 2,300 complaints have been made since March to San Luis Obispo County’s COVID-19 enforcement team relating to business and public compliance with safety regulations.
But as of Wednesday, the county still had not issued any citations, according to officials.
A county COVID-19 enforcement report with data covering the period between March 24 and Aug. 3 revealed 2,305 complaints, including tips from people living in every SLO County community.
They cover a wide range of alleged issues, such as non-essential business-related violations; face mask violations; short-term lodging issues; and a variety of other calls of upset, angry and miscellaneous statements.
A team of county code enforcement, sheriff’s deputies and environmental health officials monitors businesses for compliance — seven days a week.
“We continue to focus our efforts on voluntary compliance,” said Matt Janssen, who’s leading the COVID-19 code enforcement effort.
Only the cities of Morro Bay and SLO have issued citations related to coronavirus orders. None of the county’s other five cities has issued citations, saying they’ve achieved adequate voluntary compliance.
While the county receives tips across all jurisdictions, individual SLO County cities are referred complaints related to matters in their respective incorporated boundaries.
Cities also receive complaints to their agencies directly, which they respond to.
SLO issues business citations
The city of San Luis Obispo issued two $1,000 citations on June 27 to F. McLintock’s and Buffalo Pub and Grill for lack of social distancing and face coverings, said Lee Johnson, the city’s interim economic development manager.
The two restaurants/bars have appealed the citations, Johnson said.
SLO had received about 300 calls regarding business compliance via the city’s hotline at the end of last week, Johnson said.
“Overall, our business community has been working very hard to follow all of the guidelines to ensure the safety of their customers and their employees,” Johnson said.
Johnson added that in most situations an educational call or visit by someone on the city team has been able to address any shortcomings and ensure the guidelines are being met.
“Any challenges we have had, have generally been related to the changing situation and are resolved through communication and education,” Johnson said. “If we need to escalate to a higher level of enforcement, we will, but for the most part everyone is trying to do the right thing.”
Morro Bay issued 12 citations related to closure violations
As of Wednesday, Morro Bay had issued 12 citations for people ignoring road closures put in place with the intent to limit large group gatherings. Three businesses in the city have received written warnings.
“The citations were issued for people failing to follow the road closures we had in place early on in response to COVID,” said Scot Graham, Morro Bay’s community development director. “We had the Embarcadero closed near the power plant entrance to stop people from going out to the (Morro) Rock parking lot because we were having a lot of folks gather out there while not following social distancing requirements.”
Graham said Morro Bay officials also closed Atascadero Road near the beach for the same reason, but eventually opened areas back up.
“We have taken the approach to educate, as the guidance has been ever-changing and has proven to be somewhat confusing for our businesses and the public in general,” Graham said. “Once contact is made, our businesses have voluntarily complied.”
Morro Bay Police chief Jody Cox said one of the biggest challenges has been to gain “compliance for mask wearing and social distancing from outside visitors.”
“As a tourist destination, we receive large crowds of visitors daily and throughout the weekends, and it can be challenging to contact those folks (due to other priorities and calls for service) who do not comply with either social distancing or mask-wearing guidelines,” Cox said in an email. “Our officers do attempt to contact those folks to educate and encourage them to practice the safety guidelines.”
Complaints by community
On the county’s hotline, excluding tips reported to city agencies, SLO received the most complaints of any county community (21%), followed by Paso Robles (19%), Pismo Beach (11%), Atascadero (8%) and Arroyo Grande (6%).
Morro Bay, Nipomo, and Cambria each had 5% of the overall complaints, with Grover Beach at 4%.
Los Osos tallied 3%, Oceano showed 2% and Cayucos had 1%.
Areas considered “other” throughout the rest of the county accounted for 6%.
The county has issued thousands of public notices to businesses and other operations — including retail food facilities, public swimming pools, tattoo parlors, gas stations, and hazardous waste sites — updating them on the changing regulations and orders.
County officials have conducted calls, consultations and inspections, among other outreach and monitoring measures.
The county has also issued dozens of warnings related to non-compliant businesses explaining requirements of state and local orders.
How to report a COVID-19 safety complaint
SLO County’s COVID-19 enforcement line for residents to report coronavirus-related orders is (805) 788-2222, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Report violations by email at Covid-Compliance@co.slo.ca.us.
The following contact information is for complaints to individual SLO County city jurisdictions:
▪ Arroyo Grande 805-473-5404 or shelterathome@arroyogrande.org
▪ Atascadero 805-470-3191 or codeenforcement@atascadero.org
▪ Grover Beach: 805-473-4523 or codecompliance@groverbeach.org
▪ Morro Bay: 805-772-2223
▪ Paso Robles: 805-237-6464 or CodeE@prcity.com
▪ San Luis Obispo: 805-783-7835
This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 10:20 AM.
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