‘Essential service’: South Fayette assures continued operations
Neither rain nor snow nor COVID-19 is keeping South Fayette Township from its appointed rounds.
“We recognize that government is an essential service, so we want to continue to operate during this time,” township manager John Barrett said. “But like with everyone else, how we operate looks a little different than it did, both inside the building and outside of it.”
He spoke from South Fayette’s municipal building Monday morning during an online forum organized by the South West Communities Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Brentwood Bank. The event was the first of several the chamber plans with officials from affiliate municipalities, which also include Bridgeville, Collier and Upper St. Clair.
Joining Barrett from South Fayette were Andrea Iglar, director of communications and community development, and police Chief John Phoennik.
“Our officers are doing their normal patrols, but they’ve been told on a daily basis to try to minimize their contact with the public,” Phoennik said, noting officers have been supplied with appropriate personal protective equipment. “We are trying to handle as much as we can by phone, email, those types of things. Any arrests, we’re doing by summons, not face-to-face.”
Phoennik, Barrett and Iglar remain on duty at the municipal building, while many employees are working from home.
“We’re communicating with our staff in as many ways as we can, just so we can keep the services level up,” Barrett said. “We still recognize that we have an obligation to maintain our infrastructure. Just like with all our operations, we’re kind of getting down to what’s essential, what’s important.”
Township commissioners took action in March to advertise for bids for the annual road maintenance program, with the goal of awarding contracts in May.
“We’re still communicating with our engineers and with the third-party professionals who service the township. That part of the operation is kind of set up to continue in this environment,” Barrett said. “So we’re able to keep the road program on schedule.”
Other municipal projects remain on track with some limitations, such as ongoing efforts to improve local stormwater management systems. One component is the testing of water, which is unavailable at this point because laboratories are closed.
“But by and large, we want to continue,” Barrett said. “We want to reduce that backlog of projects. We want to keep things teed up, so that when they’re able to continue, we’ll be in line to stay on course.”
Although spring usually is prime season for parks and recreation activities, the department has postponed events scheduled for April and May, and all activities are on hiatus for the time being.
“As things move forward,” Iglar said, “We’ll look to more ways to be able to offer some type of recreation and community programming virtually.”
In the meantime, the township announced the temporary closure of municipal playgrounds and park pavilions. Trails and open spaces are open, but appropriate social distance is strongly recommended.
“We really want people to understand that just because we’re outside doesn’t mean that we can linger with people, gather with people,” Iglar explained.
For updates and information about available resources, visit www.southfayettepa.com/covid19 or www.southfayettepa.com/coronavirus. South Fayette residents can call a 24-hour helpline at 412-221-8700, ext. 254, and submit online forms available at www.southfayettepa.com/help.