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MINUTES OF THE <br /> ORONO EMERGENCY CITY COUNCIL MEETING <br /> Wednesday,March 18,2020 <br /> 3:30 o'clock p.m. <br /> Forniak agreed and said the masks are a one-time use so they want to use them sparingly. That is why the <br /> first person on-scene goes in; if there is not a need for other personnel to enter,they stay outside. <br /> Edwards stated there has been minimal impact within Public Works with the exception of doing in-person <br /> meetings, and they have ceased doing non-emergency appointments inside of homes or businesses.They <br /> are still doing emergency work, all normal utilities testing,inspections, etc. other than when they need to <br /> go into people's houses.He noted one of the benefits of Public Works is that it already has the social <br /> distance aspect and PPE built into it.They will not be opening the golf course/golf course clubhouse until <br /> everything settles down.Within the Engineering Department,they have stopped doing in-person <br /> meetings; most of that has been able to be rolled over into digital. Some services will be limited if the <br /> City moves into a Level 4 such as utility inspections,and he will also enforce a mandatory separation of <br /> personnel in Public Works.At Level 5,the main priority would be to maintain at least 2 healthy crew <br /> members so the water and sewer systems can be maintained on a daily basis and kept operational. <br /> Printup asked if isolating the crews would include changing the hours or making sure there is someone <br /> working in the shop and another one outside. <br /> Edwards said his thought was separating the utility crew from the streets and storm crew. In normal <br /> operations,they all meet together every morning to discuss the day's activities.They would not put all <br /> 10-11 people in the same confined space.He would change hours if need be--that probably would not be <br /> until Level 5 --in order to keep a healthy 2-man crew.He may have a rotation cycle go into place. <br /> Mr.Jonathan Aanestad,3185 North Shore Drive,thanked the City of Orono for their work at this time. <br /> He said he works at the State Capitol.The State Capitol is at Orono's Level 4:the Capitol is closed;many <br /> employees are telecommuting; limited floor votes by the legislature,which will be on an as-needed basis, <br /> mostly emergency;essential personnel only.All of the people at the Capitol are taking this very seriously. <br /> He noted it was good to see that the State,County, and City levels are doing the same thing,because it <br /> will take a lot of effort to follow the protocol that's been initiated from the President on down. <br /> Walsh said he is glad the State has not spent all of the surplus yet. He suggested they pause and think <br /> about all the people that have been and will be in harm's way. <br /> Mr.Aanestad stated the surplus will be downgraded in the next two months but,more importantly,the <br /> surplus is in stasis right now,being held for emergency situations.There is legislation in the pipeline that <br /> may spend part of it. <br /> Rief reiterated that Planning is still taking phone calls and issuing permits. The City Clerk is also still <br /> issuing permits. The majority of everything related to those departments can now be done online.While <br /> there are not in-person meetings,they will be implementing a GoToMeeting to allow those to still happen <br /> and give video as it is available. <br /> Walsh stated the foresight that the City had in bringing online permitting and everything else the past <br /> couple of years has helped the City's situation a lot. <br /> Johnson commented those are the type of projects that can be worked on if/when the City slows down. <br /> Page 6 of 8 <br />