HOUGHTON — In front of an overflow crowd Friday afternoon, the Houghton County Board voted 4-0 for a revised resolution in support of Houghton County — Canal View Administrator Kim Salmi’s advocacy for reduced restrictions for masking and testing requirements when appropriate.

The board also approved a subsequent resolution declaring a vote of confidence in Salmi and her performance.

Tuesday night, the board had voted 3-2 against a similar resolution with different wording. Salmi had submitted her resignation to the county following the original vote Tuesday night. After Friday’s votes and the outpouring of support from the community, she said she plans to stay.

As for next steps, she said, “Tomorrow is the same as today, except for we have the support of the board, which means a lot.”

“We’ve been lost a little bit during COVID, and so it’s nice that we finally have a seat at the table,” she said. “I’m hoping that that will empower our staff to kind of share their stories of what’s happened over the last couple years and what we need to do to recover.”

That will mean recruiting people to the field. Those people also need to be supported, and had a healthy working environment with good hours, wages and benefits, she said.

Board chair Tom Tikkanen, who along with Vice Chair Roy Britz had voted for the original resolution, said he was glad Friday’s vote had a different outcome.

“I believe there’s virtually no difference between the two resolutions, but whatever it is that made them support it, I’m all for it because it was very clear to Commissioner Britz and myself that Canal View was looking for a resolution of support for their efforts,” he said. “They have performed admirably and that’s an understatement during this time of COVID.”

The county board resolution followed an open letter Salmi posted on Facebook earlier this month. Salmi said she had been motivated by the advocacy groups American Health Care Association, which has encouraged its members to share what was going on in their facilities.

Salmi had been approached by Tikkanen about putting her open letter into resolution form for the board to approve.

“We have some challenges, and we need to shine some light on this,” she said. “As to the board’s support, I’m glad that we could get to a resolution which everybody here,I think can live with.”

The revised resolution was presented by Commissioners Glenn Anderson and Kevin Codere. Before its approval, the original motion was also brought up for a second vote. It deadlocked 2-2 with Janssen absent.

The new resolution stated the board supports Canal View’s advocacy and also committed the board to distributing a copy to U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters and U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman.

The paragraph supporting Salmi’s advocacy replaces one stating the county supported Canal View “in their plight to relax continued masking and surveillance testing, except in the case of suspected or confirmed COVID.”

It also states the board appreciates the “dedication and professionalism” of Canal View employees.

A paragraph recognizing Canal View for following applicable rules and regulations and saying they should be able to manage infectious diseases within their facility was largely carried over from the previous resolution.

Where background paragraphs in the previous resolution had incorporated statistics such as the total growth in the health care “gig models” at the expense of nursing home work force, the new resolution was more narrowly focused on Canal View’s following of best practices.

Vice Chair Britz said he believed it was well-written and didn’t exceed the board’s authority.

“I would not support anything I felt was illegal or improper … It’s asking for our support of the function of that facility, not to rewrite laws,” he said.

The three commissioners who voted against the original motion took pains Friday to stress their reasons for voting against the original bill were not connected to a lack of support for Salmi or Canal View.

Codere said he had been confused by the wording of the original resolution, and what it was asking of the board. After a long conversation with Salmi on Wednesday, he better understood the intent of the resolution, he said.

He agreed with her letter, he said, and thought she had done a “phenomenal job” as administrator.

“One thing I will not do is agree to a clause I think is illegal in nature,” he said. “… Now I know after speaking to Kim for a long time, that was not her intent at all. So the problem is we just have language problems, and we’ve solved that language problem. We have another resolution that does everything your resolution says, and simply cleans it up so I know what I’m voting for.”

For instance, Codere said he had been thrown off by the clause in the original saying the board would “support Canal View in their plight to relax” restrictions.

Commissioner Gretchen Janssen said she had an appointment that could not be rescheduled on short notice, and could not attend. She wrote in a letter read aloud Friday that she admired Salmi and the staff for their work, but could not support a resolution calling for reduced masking and surveillance testing.

“That is not within the purview of this board, although I may be mistaken,” she said. “… If you are looking for support of the incredible job that you have been doing, especially during these challenging times, you have my utmost support.”

Anderson also introduced a motion giving a vote of confidence to Salmi, which the board approved unanimously.

“Whether we have more representation — whether commissioners attend their meetings, or we have joint meetings with them every other month, I think it’s important to the future that we somehow pay more attention,” he said.

Salmi said although she was satisfied with the language of the final resolution, it wasn’t enough. She called on the board to do more advocacy itself for health care workers, including at the upcoming Michigan Association of Counties conference.

Salmi also asked for two commissioners — one Democrat, one Republican — to visit the nursing home and meet with residents and staff to better understand their experience.

The crowd for Friday’s meeting spilled out into the hallway and elevator lobby outside the conference room. Between those present at the courthouse and those watching on Zoom, 214 people participated, said administrator Elizabeth Bjorn.

Nearly everyone who spoke was in favor of the resolution. Canal View Medical Director Terry Kinzel had been working with patients up to 16 hours a day during the pandemic under the risk of potential death. With more effective treatments, the vaccine and a less-virulent virus, standards have relaxed in other places — except long-term care, he said.

“If I understand correctly, the purpose of a resolution is simply to allow long-term care to keep up with the evidence-based safe practices in the country as a whole. And it seems to me to say ‘I support that,’ is not a very hard thing.”

Two people spoke against the resolution. Former 97th District Court Judge Mark Wisti said since the county board had no authority over federal regulations, the resolution would be divisive without accomplishing a policy change.

“What is the purpose of passing a resolution on this divisive issue that is nothing more than a ‘Hooray for our side’?” he said. “All this will do is create more conflict and anger.”

Some thought the board needed to take a firmer stand against masking, testing and vaccine mandates in general. Others said Salmi was indispensable to the facility.

“The only reason why we made it through this epidemic without losing the national average of 30% of our positives to death is because of Kim’s ability to manage,” said Jonathan Packham, Canal View – Houghton County’s director of rehabilitation.

Lynn Taavola, who has worked at Canal View for more than 30 years, said the restrictions have made working at the facility difficult.

“Many staff members have left because they can no longer endure the staff shortages,” she said. “Residents’ needs cannot be met in a timely fashion when we struggle with a lack of staff. Those of us in all departments who stay do for the welfare of our residents … a resolution would make our residents feel content and well-loved once again.”

Tikkanen said he felt Canal View would be an effective advocate for change to the federal regulations.

“Are (federal agencies) the ultimate decision-makers, are they the ones who write policies and hopefully ease these restrictions in a safe and straightforward manner? Yes, they are,” he said of the federal government. “But they need to get the feedback, they get need to get the direction from the residents, from the people, from those frontline workers.”