Our city
by A.F. Mayor Marc Beitia
I don’t think the intended subtext of Governor Brad Little’s Stage I for Rebound Idaho accurately translated to, “Open the floodgates.” It looked like Black Friday at many of the parking lots I passed on the way to get a part for some “honey do” supplies. The “honey do” part made it feel like essential travel; but, in retrospect it wasn’t. And, as full as the aisles were at the store, it was impossible to maintain much social distance.
Admittedly, I was as guilty as everyone else and I know it felt good just to get out and do something close to normal. However, I caution all of us to continue to practice proper safety and hygiene in our attempts to regain normalcy. The daily number of new cases of COVID-19 remains steady at above 30 throughout the state. While we have been fortunate in Eastern Idaho it will not take more than a few asymptomatic people to change all of that. So, I urge us all to maintain vigilance and care as we strive to regain normal.
In these next two weeks restaurants, indoor gyms and hair salons are developing health, sanitation and safety plans for a potential modified reopening on May 16. Restaurant dining rooms can open once their plans have been submitted and approved by local public health districts. Indoor gyms, recreation facilities and hair salons can open if they have the ability to meet business protocols as defined in Stage 2: https://cdn.ymaws.com/idahocities.org/resource/resmgr/temp/COVID-_12.pdf.
City hall will be open for modified business. We are requiring that you wear a mask and sanitary gloves if you need to speak personally to someone in city hall. The procedures for seeing someone in person are as follows: a number will be posted on the front doors of city hall; call that number when you drive up. If no one else is in city hall you will be let into the building. If someone is ahead of you, you will be let in when that person leaves the building. If multiple people are waiting, you will be admitted in the order that your call was received. As has been the case for the last month, if you need to speak with a particular person at a set time please schedule an appointment. This protocol will likely not change this month. Please continue to drop payments in the drop box; that has been most helpful. Thank you for your cooperation in helping us serve you.
Lastly, on COVID-19 for this week. Numerous cities are reopening their park playgrounds. We are going to wait one more week. When the playgrounds are reopened they will be sterilized once a day thanks to the school district. The hard surfaces on the equipment hold the COVID-19 virus for a long period of time. Be sure to sterilize your children’s hands before, during and after use of the facilities.
May 19 is a day set aside for you to exercise your constitutional privilege to vote as a United States citizen. In preparation for that vote on the city matter seeking your approval to grant authority to the Urban Renewal Agency and its board of commissioners the city is hosting a virtual meeting on ZOOM this Thursday at 6 p.m. The link to the meeting follows this paragraph. The meeting is intended to provide another overview of how the Urban Renewal Agency will function, what it can and cannot do, and answer any questions you may have about it. You should only need the URL link. If you have the time and inclination please join us for an hour at: Meeting ID, 812-4183-256; Meeting Password, 671340; https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81241832569?pwd=eGlxRVZ6a29rTW9OU0lTMHhFUnRsdz09.
Until next week…
Thanks for reading! Read more in this week's print edition.Subscribe Today! |