A state of emergency was declared in Springfield by officials in March with mayor Warren Copeland enacting an emergency proclamation in order to take action to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
The proclamation and state of emergency closed city buildings to the public. Crucial city services continued with added precautions. A large portion of city workers were also asked to work remotely if possible.
The time frame of the order, which originally was slated to end mid-April, has since been extended following actions taken at a statewide level. There is not a specific end date set, Heck added.
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Heck said on Wednesday that the city is slowly opening its buildings back to the public. The first floor of City Hall was opened to the public last month for limited hours. Those hours have not been extend and are 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday.
Two divisions housed in that building are opened to the public during that time including utility billing and income tax, which is taking appointments.
In addition, the lobby of the city’s main fire station was opened to the public this week in order to issue permits, those services can also be requested online. More employees are transitioning back to working out of city offices, however schedules differ and are up to individual departments, Heck added.
He said that could include limited hours, changes in schedules, alternating days in the office. He said some employees are still working remotely.
“But again we want to be smart about it. We want to take an incremental approach. If there is ways for people to continue to provide effective service delivery while also working remotely to protect our employees health then that is what we are going to do.”
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The pandemic has caused the city to set protocols in place. Heck said they are asking residents and employees to adhere to social distancing guidelines and are encouraging residents to wear face coverings when entering city hall.
City commissioners are still meeting virtually and remain so until the end of June. Heck said the end goal is to eventually transition back to full capacity with all city buildings being reopened to the public.
He said the plan is to monitor the situation and the number of cases in the area this month with the hopes of making larger changes in July.
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