Warren County (2021)
Supervisor Strough says Queensbury's goal is the same as Warren County's goal: 100% vaccination.
All of Queensbury’s official government meetings will be held online at least through January. This includes court hearings, town board meetings, the planning board and more.
Even small meetings between the public and staff will be held online, on the phone or by mail. Additionally, meetings among town staff will be limited to three people in the conference room. Staffers should not meet in another person’s cubicle or touch each other's office supplies.
These are some of the many new guidelines outlined in the “Pandemic Response Plan," approved by the Queensbury Town Board Monday Jan. 11.
This 27-page plan is a revision of a plan approved in November and came about as a reaction to the expected post-holiday surge in COVID cases. It aims to lessen coronavirus transmission.
“If you look at the numbers [of COVID cases], at the end of December, going into January, they’re horrible,” Supervisor John Strough said during the town board meeting. “Everyday, these numbers get worse.”
All court hearings will be held online via Microsoft Teams and will follow Office of Court Administration rules, say the guidance drafted by town justices Michael Muller and Eric Schwenke.
“Court clerks will continue their normal clerk duties and administrative operations,” their guidance says.
Dave Hatin, director of the Buildings and Codes Enforcement Department, wrote a page-long bullet list that includes items such as meeting contractors and others online, in the parking lot or at the job site. The public will have to work with code enforcement through email, phone and Zoom, and paperwork will be collected via a dropbox at the town offices, 742 Bay Road.
A chart in the document outlines when an employee uses sick leave, remote work, or unpaid leave in various situations.
Department heads created these rules at the behest of John Strough, the town supervisor.
In a Jan. 5 email printed in the draft plan, Strough asks department managers to develop plans, looking at ways to keep office staff and the public apart, and to see if people are seated too close to one another and if they have any sort of barrier between them.
On signs, he offered the idea that people need more communication, but took a moment to offer admonishment: “I am not talking about signage like the one where the Governor is peeking over the fence to spy on you, I am referring to signage that reminds staff to wear their masks when leaving their workstation areas.”
Strough told the town board that the aim was to create procedures and protocols that keep residents and workers as safe as possible.
He said, “At the end of January, we’ll see how things look. I hope they’ll look better.”