With news of the two confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Summit County, Park City Municipal Corporation has declared a local state of emergency, in solidarity with Summit County government.
Park City Manager Matt Dias says declaring a state of emergency shows the city is taking the COVID-19 outbreak seriously. But doing so also gives the city access to additional powers and resources, if needed.
“There may be components to an emergency plan, there may be resources I need to allocate to other jurisdictions, perhaps, and then when you declare a state of emergency, you’re able to get in line for being reimbursed for those types of activities later," Dias said. "To put people’s fears at ease, this is really a proactive measure out of an abundance of caution.”
The city has implemented some policies in response to the outbreak. City facilities, such as the MARC or the library, will halt non-essential activities and classes, to reduce opportunities for the public to interact in group settings. Most importantly for municipal employees, Dias says the city has a new 60-day sick leavepolicy. With hourly and part-time positions, not every employee has benefits. Dias says the new policy allows employees without sick leave to stay home if they feel ill or to care for family.
“The last thing that we would want to do is to have policies in place that create an incentive for someone to come in when they’re not feeling well, or for someone to not self-quarantine when they maybe should self-quarantine,” Dias said.
Park City Emergency Manager Mike McComb, Resident Advocate Michelle Downard and Park City Councilmember Steve Joyce are part of a task force the city has put together to address COVID-19 in the coming months. Dias says the city is also working closely with Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley Resort as well as the Park City Chamber of Commerce. As for the community, Joyce suggests checking in with neighbors who can’t leave their homes or buying gift certificates to support local business.
“I think there’s going to be so many good ideas coming out, and hopefully people really starting to execute on that," Joyce said. "This is going to be an opportunity to prove what a community’s about.”
More details about Park City Municipal’s 60-day policy for employees can be found at parkcity.org. For information on COVID-19 news, visit kpcw.org.
