Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Township navigating ‘new normal’ with virus
NORTH COVENTRY » With schools, businesses and municipal buildings closed and a stay-at-home-order in place due to the coronavirus outbreak, how are things getting done?
Monday night, the North Coventry Township Supervisors began to move ahead with the business of government and introduced their first workaround by holding their first-ever virtual meeting using the Zoom virtual meeting program.
(The Boyertown Area School Board announced plans to use the same platform on Tuesday to broadcast its meeting and allow for public participation.)
The supervisors’ meeting was recorded and will be posted on the township website for the public to view.
The meeting highlighted the kinds of issues elected officials must still contend with as emergency restrictions make business as usual impossible.
The new normal
“This is certainly a crazy time,” North Coventry Supervisors Chairman Jim Marks said as the virtual meeting got underway.
“Never in a million years when we met two weeks ago — was it only two weeks ago? — did I think I would be sitting in my office at home hosting a township meeting,” said Marks.
But elected officials have to meet, it’s how democracy works, so the North Coventry supervisors found a way and began talking about finding a way through this crisis with everything from police mutual aid to highway staff scheduling.
Marks outlined the fast pace at which things were changing on the municipal front.
For example, Wednesday, March 13, was the last day at work for longtime police chief Robert Schurr, who left to take a job in his childhood home of Perkasie.
Officials had planned a going-away party for Schurr, to thank him for his nearly 30 years of service, but had to cancel to avoid violating social distancing protocols.
“Hopefully, when this is all over, we can schedule something for him,” said Marks.
Financial impact will be ‘huge’
The supervisors also recognized that depending on how long businesses are shuttered, the economic impacts on the residents and township operations will be immense.
“This is going to have a
huge financial impact and we won’t know what it is tomorrow or next week. We won’t know for six months, or even 12 months,” said Marks.
That potential for financial impact includes township employees.
To minimize exposure pathways, the supervisors agreed to stagger shifts of the highway crew, with three workers working one week, and the other three on the following week.
But the supervisors also agreed to continue to pay them as normal so as not to create a financial hardship on the crew.
Building closed, in-person meetings canceled
To additionally reduce exposure, two of the township building staff are working at home as much as possible, even though the township building is closed to the public.
“It’s sort of lonely,” said Township Manager Kevin Hennessey, who is himself retiring this month. “It’s
very quiet in the building during the day.”
Erica Batdorf has been hired as his replacement and was “virtually present” at the virtual meeting Monday.
Supervisors agreed to allow the food pantry in town to continue to use township facilities. Hennessey said the food pantry personnel are also “practicing social distancing.”
The supervisors also reauthorized their week-old emergency declaration, changing the wording to leave it in place until it is revoked by a formal vote.
The declaration authorizes the township to take whatever measures deemed necessary to deal with the impacts of the emergency without following the usual rules for bidding.
It will also make the township eligible to recover some of its emergency-related costs from the pandemic when assistance grants become available from state and federal government sources.
Police mutual aid
Given that local police departments have taken protective measures, but have not reduced staff or services, the chances of an
officer getting exposed is higher than those staying at home.
Marks said emergency planners have long explored “worst case scenarios, but nobody in their wildest dreams saw this coming and we’re not entirely prepared.”
“For a small force like ours of 12 or 13 officers, having one or two affected could have a catastrophic impact on our department and leave us with no one,” he warned.
Hennessey, township solicitor Daniel Sager and Matthew Deichert, the department’s officer in charge, said they have already reached out to neighboring departments to arrange for mutual aid agreements beyond what now exists informally.
Hennessey said Monday that neither Chester or Montgomery county authorities have issued guidelines on this yet, but that he has already been in touch with the seven other municipalities that comprise the regional planning group, and officials at all expressed support for some kind of arrangement.
Enforcing shutdown
The question of whether local police will be involved
in enforcing Gov. Tom Wolf’s order for the shut down of non-life-sustaining businesses was also raised.
Deichert said current guidance from Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan indicates enforcement of the ban will be handled by the state and local police will only provide assistance when requested.
As of Monday, all stories in Coventry Mall are closed with the exception of T.G.I. Friday’s, which is open for take-out service only, and Gabe’s.
Hennessey said Gabe’s is allowed to stay open because it sells some food and cleaning supplies.
Marks said cleaners are working inside the mall.
‘We will get through this’
He also offered encouraging words for all.
“We will get through this and one day we will be able to get together again and share a drink or a meal and look back on this,” Marks said.
Pointing to the many examples of people stepping up to help where they can, he added, “Remember, good things come when bad things happen.”