Peters Township officials provide update with regard to COVID-19
Fire Chief Mike McLaughlin speaks during the online community update.
Chief Doug Grimes of the Peters Township Police Department speaks during a past school assembly.
From the perspective of the Peters Township police chief, the people he serves generally are taking precautions against the spread of COVID-19.
“They understand what this is all about,” Doug Grimes said. “And for the most part, what we see on our patrols are people who are complying with the governor’s requests to apply social distancing, to stay at home, to only go out when necessary.”
He joined township manager Paul Lauer and Peters Township Fire Department Chief Mike McLaughlin Tuesday morning for a coronavirus-related online community update, during which Grimes said his department has not needed to confront anyone about violating safety directives.
“We have had some calls, and we’ve gone out and talked to people and explained why what they’re doing is problematic,” he said. “And they’ve very graciously and quickly agreed to change whatever was going on.”
The community update, moderated by Peters Township Chamber of Commerce executive director Brian Schill and sponsored by Washington Financial Bank, featured assurances that many of the township’s functions are continuing through the crisis, with some modifications.
“We’re closed to anyone coming inside the police station,” Grimes said. “The exception to that would be an actual physical arrest of someone that cannot be pursued through other means.”
State law allows for arrests to be made by summons, which is mailed to a defendant and includes a date and time to report to district court for arraignment.
“In other cases where we have to physically arrest someone, we are taking them into custody, taking them before a district judge to be arraigned and then transporting them to detention,” Grimes said. “In those cases, we do have protocols in place that include, when possible, for the officers to protect themselves through personal protective equipment or the utilizing of specific techniques in regard to transportation and handling of the prisoners.”
Procedures include proper cleaning of patrol cars, equipment, the station’s holding cell and officers’ uniforms.
Regarding municipal operations, Lauer said although visitors are allowed in the township building, residents are able to correspond with officials through calls and emails, and they will receive responses.
“To give you an example of how we are open for business, we are continuing to accept and review building permit applications, and our goal is to issue those building permits as soon as the stay-at-home order is lifted,” Lauer said, adding that new construction temporarily is a prohibited activity. “But we understand how important that is to our community. So we want to get that segment of our business community and our township up and running as soon as we can.”
Although Peters Township Public Library is closed, he touted the services that still are available.
“Long before COVID-19, the library had been engaged in a process of creating a very dynamic online presence, and they’ve been very creative in this period of time to expand that,” he said.
As far as other activities, township parks remain open, but playground areas and the community recreation center are not. Neither is Peterswood Park’s Field 5, according to Lauer, as it was being used by soccer players not practicing social distancing.
The popular township-owned Arrowhead Trail is available for use.
“It is our ‘Main Street,’ and this spring has been like every other spring. As the sun comes out, the trail is crowded,” Lauer said. “That is a challenge with regard to using the trail in light of social distancing. Having said that, I do believe it is possible to be able to use that trail if people practice common courtesy. And that’s to stay to one side of the trail when you’re walking, to distance yourself six feet from any group that may be using it.”
He also recommended avoiding potential crowds parking at trail access points that are not heavily used, and to venture beyond the paved Arrowhead Trail onto the crushed limestone of the Montour Trail and its sections leading toward Bethel Park and Cecil and South Park townships.
In November, Peters Township adopted an emergency operations plan, “not knowing that we would so quickly put this plan to test,” McLaughlin said.
He also serves as the township’s emergency management coordinator, and he reported an emergency operations center has been set up at the fire station since March 10 to help coordinate activities among various local entities. For the most part, McLaughlin noted, Lt. Jordan Cramer of the fire department is manning the center.
To this point, Peters has not declared a state of emergency.
“Every form of government above us has declared that emergency, and soon, it could and should be time for us to do the same,” McLaughlin said, explaining the step as necessary to be considered for reimbursements by state and federal emergency management agencies.
“Our expenditures have not been great through this emergency so far,” he continued. “But as this is probably going to go on for a couple of months, anything that we spend and categorize into this can become a reimbursable expense, up to 75% of that expenditure.”