×

Officials forced to change routines

Municipal governments faced with tough decisions

Mirror photo by Rick Boston / Roaring Spring Borough Police Chief Greg Wyandt posts a note on the police department’s door notifying residents that the building is closed to the public.

As the coronavirus continues to spread across the state, businesses have been forced to change their normal operating routines, and government and law-enforcement are no exception.

Municipal police departments have been issued masks and are changing procedures for handling calls.

Greg Wyandt, Roaring Spring Borough police chief, said low-priority calls will be handled over the phone.

“We are limiting access to our building,” he said. “We are going to handle emergency calls as a top priority as always.”

Wyandt said he is asking people to stay in their homes and will handle non-emergency calls over the phone when appropriate.

“We are advising people that if they have a non-emergency to phone the office instead of coming in,” he said. “The emergency calls will be handled as usual but the minor stuff that can be dealt with over the phone, we are trying to limit to phone calls.”

In Martinsburg, Mayor Richard Brantner Sr., ordered the municipal building closed to the public asking people to mail payments or drop them in the door slot.

“It’s a matter of safety based on what is taking place in our nation,” Brantner said. “It’s the only way to go right now.”

Brantner has sent a message to the community asking residents to contact him if they need help getting through the crisis, although he admits he doesn’t know what kind of help he can give.

“I don’t know how I can help but if they reach out to me and present me with a problem, if they have one, I can evaluate it from there,” he said.

Brantner said he put the message out to let people know they are not in this by themselves and to help alleviate their fears.

“A lot of it was to put a message out there to calm people and to reassure them that they have someone to turn to,” he said.

Freedom Township Secretary Lisa Edmundson said the township office is closed to the public for the foreseeable future.

“We locked the doors on Monday to keep the employees safe and to stop the spread of the virus,” she said. “We will continue this for as long as necessary.”

In Tyrone, the borough building will close to the public beginning Monday, March 23. Borough Manager Ardean Latchford said the plan is to lock down the building for at least two weeks.

“Right now, we are trying to maintain some social distancing and taking extra precautions,” he said.

Municipal governments are also faced with the decision on how, or if, to hold its regular monthly meetings.

Brantner, Edmundson and Latchford said the current plan is to hold April’s meeting, but that could change.

Larry Lashinsky, borough solicitor for Roaring Spring, said he is advising the municipalities he serves to postpone meetings for the time being.

“I’m telling a lot of my municipalities that we just can’t meet right now. It’s just not safe for us to meet as a group,” he said. “I’m recommending for our meetings scheduled for April that we postpone them and then we get a feeling for what the lay of the land is and then evaluate going forward.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.39/week.

Subscribe Today