GREENFIELD — It has been eight weeks since Mayor Roxann Wedegartner declared a state of emergency and six weeks since she announced the opening of the city’s Emergency Operations Center. Now, she and other city officials are discussing how Greenfield will recover from the pandemic.
Wedegartner welcomed U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Worcester, and Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, in the Emergency Operations Center on Tuesday. Rep. Paul Mark, D-Peru, joined using video conferencing.
Wedegartner said it is difficult to discuss what the future will look like, but it’s necessary to do so. Until that day arrives, she said the city will follow COVID-19 safety measures set by Gov. Charlie Baker, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the state Department of Public Health (DPH).
Based on the governor’s order concerning face masks beginning May 6, she has upgraded her face-mask advisory to an order, as well, though the city will not issue fines to those who don’t wear one in public. She said police and the Board of Health will be looking at each violation on a case-by-case basis.
Wedegartner said two municipal buildings — City Hall and the Department of Public Works Customer Service Center — will be the first to open when a date is set, but she’s not sure when that will be.
“We’ll be working with all departments on comprehensive plans,” she said.
As buildings open to the public, she said there will be capacity limits, furniture will be rearranged so that people can practice social distancing, and Plexiglas barriers will be installed to separate employees and customers.
The mayor said the city continues its work on contact tracing, which she said will be critical to opening.
“We have to remember the three ‘Ts,’” she said. “Testing, tracing and treatment.”
Two registered nurses and Jennifer Hoffman, who has been working with the Health Department, have been doing that work, logging 120 cumulative hours a week making calls to people who have been exposed to those who have tested positive in Greenfield.
“We’ve been contacting not only people who have tested positive or been exposed to them, but people who have not been tested, but have been clinically diagnosed with COVID-19 and the people they have exposed,” she said.
Wedegartner said the city will continue to work with health care professionals, the hospital, the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) and others to get through the pandemic.
McGovern said he is inspired by how Greenfield and its residents, officials and others have taken the pandemic seriously. He said now is not the time to let up, though, but the time to double down and follow CDC guidelines more than ever.
“We’re the one’s flattening the curve,” he said. “It’s not flattening itself.”
McGovern said he will continue to work for Greenfield to make sure money continues to flow into the city. He said he and his colleagues will make sure small businesses are taken care of and “every cent is going to who needs it.”
McGovern said it is important to him that there is transparency and accountability when it comes to taking care of towns and cities, unemployment and other struggles people in the area are facing.
“The need in Greenfield is just as important as in larger cities,” he said. “Greenfield is facing the same challenges.”
The pandemic has illustrated the inequities and inequalities some face, he said, and that will be something legislators will work on for a long time to come, even after the pandemic passes.
Comerford said she doesn’t believe Greenfield or any town or city will ever get back to what was considered “normal” before the pandemic.
“Inequities have been exposed,” she said. “We won’t get back to normal, because we’re going to build back to better.”
Comerford said as the state and its municipalities begin to think about slowly opening, they will have to understand there is a lot of work ahead to do so safely.
“We will have to continue all public health protocol,” she explained.
While everyone continues to work on the pandemic, Comerford said they’ll also have to work on state and local budgets for the next fiscal year, and they’ll have to rely on McGovern and other federal leaders to get them the funding they deserve.
Mark said the budget process and census are two issues he thinks about a lot. While the pandemic, rightly so, is a priority, he said legislators will be voting on the budget and will have to do so knowing that COVID-19 has taken a toll on state revenue.
Regardless, Mark said money still needs to flow into cities and towns to keep services going.
“We also have to make sure the census happens in 2020, because it’s going to affect representation and money that cities and towns receive for the next 10 years,” he said.
The deadline for everyone to get their census information in is Oct. 31, but Mark said it should be done as soon as possible.
“If people want a political voice and political power,” he said, “they have to do this.”
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.