Danbury area readies for slow reopen
Municipal officials await state’s lead
Danbury and area towns are largely looking to the state to figure out when it will be safe to reopen as the number of patients hospitalized because of coronavirus continues to decrease.
Gov. Ned Lamont said some businesses could reopen in seven to 10 days under a plan being created by a task force made up of medical and business officials. While municipalities are creating localized plans, they all plan to follow the state recommedations and guidelines.
“The governor has been very specific that he does not want cities and towns on their own making up their rules as they go along,” Danbury Mark Boughton said. “He wants a unified approach toward reopening the state, so we’re looking to his lead.”
Boughton expects a “slow phase” of services reopening, starting with industries that do not require many people to function.
Danbury has relied on the governor’s executive orders to regulate crowd sizes and encourage social distancing, rather than passing local ordinances. Boughton said the executive orders are bigger than anything he can do on the local level, and Lamont has been good at taking input from local municipalities while crafting them.
But Boughton said he may consider a curfew if residents start holding large parties this summer.
“I don’t like curfews in general because they tend to set up a confrontational situation between our officers and our residents,” he said. “I hope we can get a collaborative approach with our residents that, for the most part, would abide by
and agree with whatever we set up.”
Brookfield First Selectman Steve Dunn said the town isn’t planning to reopen anything until the state says it’s safe to do so, this includes any parks and facilities the town closed outside of a gubernatorial executive order.
“If one town opens all of its parks and others do not, that town will be overrun with visitors,” Dunn said. “We had this happen when we closed the Still River
Greenway a few days after other towns had shut facilities. The greenway was inundated with too many people, many coming from towns where parks had been closed.”
He said local towns should work together on a joint plan under the under the auspices of the state reopening committee, to ensure a safe and manageable transition, while minimizing the chance of spreading the virus.
A committee of department
heads in Bethel formed Monday to discuss how to reopen the municipal center, First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker said.
Knickerbocker has requested a written plan by May 15 on how to reconfigure workspace and develop new procedures to minimize the number of people in town hall.
“We’re going to be looking at a phased approach, where as things get better, we gradually open up the building in phases,” he said.
That committee will look at rules for businesses reopening, but Knickerbocker expects the governor to set those.
New Milford’s restaurant task force has regular discussions so they’re ready to reopen once the state allows.
“We don’t have specifics yet, but our restaurant task force has been discussing this and many restaurants are offering suggestions and planning inside their dining rooms for a gradual opening, whenever that might
be,” said Karen Pollard, New Milford’s economic development director.
Office space within Danbury City Hall has already been reconfigured, with plexiglass dividers in all departments, but more personal protective equipment would be needed to keep staff safe.
“It’s a moving target, but we’ll be ready,” Boughton said. “Our staff is chomping at the bit to come back to work, but we have to do it in a safe manner.”