Borough suspends non-essential services

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough announced at a press conference on Friday morning that all meetings and non-essential services will be shut down for at least one month in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced the first case of COVID 19 in Alaska on Thursday evening. Mayor Vern Halter announced that the Mat-Su Borough Assembly and all other boards will not meet until at least April and borough buildings including the Brett Memorial Ice Arena, libraries, Government Peak Recreation Area Chalet, Fire Hall rental and Wasilla and Palmer Pools will be closed as of Monday.

“All essential services will continue to be provided such as emergency services fire, road maintenance, our landfill will be open. Also we will be doing water and wastewater treatment in Talkeetna. We have a plan to have borough staff continue working at this time. We want to provide government services we just don’t want to put you or our staff in harms way,” said Borough Manager John Moosey.

Borough Mayor Vern Halter announced that the Mat-Su Borough will not declare an emergency as Dunleavy did for the state on Wednesday, but did follow through on Moosey’s request at the beginning of the press conference to cancel borough meetings. Moosey also said that borough staff will maintain social distancing work on a strategy to enable employees to work from home where possible.

“The Mat-Su Borough does not intend on declaring an emergency, but we view this as an emergency every step we’re going to take is to work on that emergency...For the normal human being, for the normal active citizen in the Mat-Su Borough, you can feel fairly safe,” said Halter.

Mat-Su Borough School District Superintendent Dr. Monica Goyette also announced that school buildings will be closed and spring break will be extended by at least one week. Goyette said that district administration is examining ways to deliver distance education via high tech or low tech methods during that time, and Goyette has requested a waiver from the state so that the school year will not be extended as a result of the coronavirus outbreak and said that meals would be delivered remotely.

“We are certainly not in a crisis, but we are preparing to avoid a crisis,” said Goyette. “Later in the week they will be contacting all of our families finding out what their needs are, including what their technology needs are and preparing to do remote delivery potentially the following week.”

The Mat-Su Borough Department of Emergency Services is equipped with protective gear to treat any individuals showing signs of infection.

Deputy DES Chief Scott Williamson said that ambulances have updated protocols and emergency services responders are equipped with personal protective equipment.

“From our standpoint we’re keeping our ambulances and our staff clean, safe, and well trained,” said Williamson. “I want to assure the public that we have been working diligently over the past month in order to try to make as many preparations as to how this will affect us as possible.”

Williamson said that Borough DES has worked in partnership with Mat-Su Regional Medical Center to set up a negative pressure ambulance bay and changes have been made to ambulance arrival. MATCOM Dispatchers have also updated protocols to screen callers for symptoms.

“Let’s not act fearful. Let’s act responsible,” said Halter.

Moosey said that if the closures extend farther into the summer, the borough will have no problem passing their annual budget on time. Moosey said that state requirements for platting issues would be solved with remote meetings if necessary. The Mat-Su Borough Animal Shelter is currently undergoing a deep cleaning but will continue to house sheltered animals for the time being. Williamson encouraged residents to avoid sensationalism and follow information from the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control. Halter said that he urged Dunleavy to acquire as many test kits as possible and asked citizens to remain calm and stay safe.

“Do the simple things. Wash your hands,” said Halter. “We have to go on with our normal lives. Don’t panic. Stick to science and facts. Don’t believe everything you see on Facebook. There probably is toilet paper around.”