GREENFIELD — The city’s Department of Public Works director remembers being shocked a little more than a year ago, when he heard the city had to close its municipal offices to the public, spurred by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. But he immediately started discussing and planning for how essential services would get done.
Marlo Warner, sometimes through tears, described what his DPW crew had to endure throughout the pandemic and still “never missed a beat.” They never left residents without the services — including trash and recycling pickup and plowed roads — that they’ve come to expect.
“We never dreamed we’d still be dealing with this,” he said. “We’ve dealt with severe weather events and natural disasters, but this wasn’t catastrophic like that where you evaluate the situation after it’s over, make a plan and you’re on the road to recovery. This has been a long ballgame with lots of overtime.”
He said because the DPW was declared “essential,” it remained at full staff. He had only half of his 67 employees working together, while the other half did the same so not everyone would be exposed to each other.
He evaluated what needed to be done at the water treatment plant first, then turned his attention to trash and recycling and any plowing that needed to be done.
“I had to make sure we had enough people to run everything and make sure they took every precaution,” he said.
Early on in the pandemic, Warner said he made masks mandatory for all employees.
“We sanitized vehicles, still do, every time a person got in or out,” he said. “The DPW crew has remained healthy through the entire ordeal.”
His plow crew typically meets in the break room for half-hour breaks during snowstorms, but that couldn’t happen this year. While crews were out getting the work done, Janine Greaves, who runs the DPW office, made sure bills were sent out and questions were answered.
Summertime projects continued as planned because most were outdoors, with crews practicing social distancing.
“That actually provided some normalcy,” Warner said. “Even with COVID, we had a better-than-average construction season and expect to again this year.”
The DPW installed hand sanitizing stations throughout the downtown area and made sure parks and the Green River Swimming and Recreation Area had signs, so that when the weather got warmer people could get outside while being aware of health safety protocols.
When Mayor Roxann Wedegartner took office in January 2020, she never expected to encounter a pandemic just three months later.
“I knew there could be a 100-year flood or some other natural disaster,” she said. “Those types of things happen and they’re over fast. You live with the devastation, but you recover and you know how to get there. Not like COVID-19.”
Though city offices had to close to the public and some of the staff had to be set up so they could work remotely, other departments like fire, police and public works had to remain open and be out on calls, mixing with a potentially sick public every day.
“The budget for fiscal 2021 had to be completed. The former mayor had started the work, but I had to finish it, in the midst of all the chaos, with (Director of Municipal Finance) Liz Gilman,” Wedegartner recounted.
At the same time the mayor oversaw everything from which grants the city would apply for to which DPW projects would be funded.
“Most of all, I had to be more flexible than ever,” she said.
Besides the day-to-day responsibilities that are normal without a pandemic, Wedegartner said she had to make sure the city’s family and medical leave policy stayed in place while adding certain restrictions and lifting others. She also had to put in place a work-from-home policy.
“We needed revenue more than ever,” she said. “We had to be creative and give people more time to pay their bills because everyone was struggling and some had lost their jobs.”
People weren’t coming downtown, so parking revenues plummeted as did room and meals taxes, though revenue from the meals tax was better than expected because restaurants were eventually able to reopen for takeout. Department heads were asked to plan on a level-services budget for fiscal year 2022. Excise tax collection has been “great,” though, because many people used their stimulus checks to buy new vehicles, she said.
“We’re holding our own this year,” she said. “I think FY 2022 (which begins July 1) will actually be the ‘recovery year.’ Parking, for instance, is down by half — we typically collect about $400,000 and only collected about $200,000 this past year.”
Wedegartner said the good news is that money the city receives from the federal and state governments will help reimburse some of the losses.
Almost immediately, Greenfield Police Chief Robert Haigh Jr. moved his office into the Emergency Operations Center, where he could help with emergency response to the pandemic at the same time he did his job as chief and led his department.
“That was a tremendous challenge, but I had a good deputy chief who was able to take over some of those day-to-day duties,” Haigh said. “At the same time, we were losing people to retirement or they were moving on to advance their careers.”
Social issues and topics were also coming to the forefront, especially after the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis last May. He said his department immediately started addressing the issues.
“People wondered if we should be as visible and present in the community,” he said. “We wanted people to come to the table and talk with us, though it had to be on Zoom because of the pandemic.”
Haigh said if police had backed off completely, there would have been a lack of connection with the community, making it difficult to build relationships and trust.
“Being more visible means we can communicate with people and they can with us, and it holds us more accountable,” he said.
The department dealt with many of the same issues as it had before the pandemic — domestic violence, for instance — but was also confronted with new ones, Haigh said, like store owners calling over customers who refused to wear a mask in the store.
“We’ve had brief confrontations where we didn’t want to turn it into a lock-up situation,” he said. “A lot for us has been about problem-solving.”
Stress among officers has been another issue.
“They’re working a dangerous job that’s already high stress,” Haigh said, “and then they have to take all of the precautions they’ve never had to before and deal with isolation because of social distancing.”
Greenfield Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director Robert Strahan said his department ran smoothly throughout the pandemic because of his officers and firefighters.
“It was truly all hands on deck,” Strahan said. “It has been the challenge of my career and without the staff I have, I never could have done both jobs. I have a lot of pride for them.”
Strahan said the usual happened — fires, accidents, medical emergencies. A few bigger events happened over the past couple of months, including an explosion/fire at a Prospect Street home, and while his staff was doing what they do best, he was running the Emergency Operations Center and the department.
“The Fire Department has had to do its job, but with a lot of restrictions and protective measures,” he said.
The restrictions have been difficult for firefighters because some are with each other 24 hours a day when on their shift. They eat meals together and do activities, but that’s been the challenge because they haven’t been able to sit at the kitchen table together at the station because they have to be 6 feet apart, Strahan explained. They all have to wear a mask, even in the Fire Station, and personal protective equipment while on calls. There have been a high number of ambulance calls, especially when the city saw surges in COVID-19, so there has always been the potential for an outbreak in the station.
Meanwhile, Strahan has also had to work with the mayor and committees to prepare for temporary and permanent fire stations.
“The mayor and City Council have invested in the Fire Department over the past year, approving both stations and providing us with the financial support for new equipment,” he said.
Strahan said besides taking care of business in Greenfield, firefighters have also continued to provide mutual aid to other Franklin County towns.
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.