How is Herriman City Handling the Coronavirus?
Mar 18, 2020 11:26AM ● By Justin Adams
By Justin Adams | [email protected]
With seemingly the whole world in lock down to help slow the spread of COVID-19, or Coronavirus, just about every business, organization and institution has had to alter their standard practices. That includes Herriman City.
The Herriman Journal relayed a series of questions to the city about how they are handling the current situation. Here's what the city had to say.
Q: How has the city organized its response to all this?
A: Herriman City has set up their Incident Command System in efforts to effectively and efficiently manage the incident through planning and communication. The City has a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) to assist us in maintaining our ability to continue our service to the public through an incident that impacts the organization. Our Incident Command team evaluates the situation daily to determine needs and responses necessary to navigate through the event. Council is updated regularly regarding the state of the City, the state of the incident, and our state of readiness.
Q: How much of Herriman City staff is working from home right now?
A: The safety of our community and our staff remains the highest priority of the City. Herriman City has a handful of staff that are working from home currently. This is due to some staff qualifying as members of a more vulnerable group, and others that have recently returned from out of state/country.
Q: How prepared was the city to shift towards a telecommuting model?
A: Through proactive planning and training, Herriman City was already prepared to respond to a situation where we may have to shift to some individuals in various positions work from home. They are able to take calls and perform data entry, review, utility billing, etc. through remote access. We continue to plan and prepare equipment in the event that it becomes necessary to have a majority of office staff work from home. This is a unique situation and we are continuing to be proactive in our preparations, with hope that the situation will stabilize and staff can continue to safely work from City Hall.
Q: For those still working from city hall, what has changed?
A: The majority of staff that remain working from City Hall are following the social distancing recommendations. We are hosting more electronic meetings and limiting most meetings to less that 10 people in a room with a chair between them. We have staff assigned to wiping down the office on a regular basis and keeping equipment and door handles disinfected. If anyone demonstrates symptoms, they are sent home.
Q: How is the morale around city hall?
A: Our Human Resources Department has put together creative ways to keep staff engaged and spirits up. We have an amazing staff here at the City. They are all willing to pitch in and do whatever is necessary as we maneuver through this unique situation.
Q: How are you preparing for scheduled city events that now may or may not happen?
A: We have canceled our Senior Social, which will be rescheduled at a later date. We are looking at options for the Basket Bash to host a virtual egg hunt instead. We are still working out the logistics of it but want to ensure that it remains a fun activity for our community with adjustments to keep everyone safe. As for Fort Herriman Towne Days, the Herriman Rodeo, etc. we continue to plan as usual, but are considering options in the event that restrictions for gatherings remain in place. We have canceled the Community Fishing program this Spring, as well as the Community Garden meeting and Localscapes workshop that were to take place in March.
Q: Are Herriman residents in any danger of their water being turned off?
A: Herriman residents will continue to receive services as usual. Additionally, the decision was made to not perform water shut offs during this month. We continue to follow the guide of the County, State and Federal government and evaluate our situation regularly.
With seemingly the whole world in lock down to help slow the spread of COVID-19, or Coronavirus, just about every business, organization and institution has had to alter their standard practices. That includes Herriman City.
The Herriman Journal relayed a series of questions to the city about how they are handling the current situation. Here's what the city had to say.
Q: How has the city organized its response to all this?
A: Herriman City has set up their Incident Command System in efforts to effectively and efficiently manage the incident through planning and communication. The City has a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) to assist us in maintaining our ability to continue our service to the public through an incident that impacts the organization. Our Incident Command team evaluates the situation daily to determine needs and responses necessary to navigate through the event. Council is updated regularly regarding the state of the City, the state of the incident, and our state of readiness.
Q: How much of Herriman City staff is working from home right now?
A: The safety of our community and our staff remains the highest priority of the City. Herriman City has a handful of staff that are working from home currently. This is due to some staff qualifying as members of a more vulnerable group, and others that have recently returned from out of state/country.
Q: How prepared was the city to shift towards a telecommuting model?
A: Through proactive planning and training, Herriman City was already prepared to respond to a situation where we may have to shift to some individuals in various positions work from home. They are able to take calls and perform data entry, review, utility billing, etc. through remote access. We continue to plan and prepare equipment in the event that it becomes necessary to have a majority of office staff work from home. This is a unique situation and we are continuing to be proactive in our preparations, with hope that the situation will stabilize and staff can continue to safely work from City Hall.
Q: For those still working from city hall, what has changed?
A: The majority of staff that remain working from City Hall are following the social distancing recommendations. We are hosting more electronic meetings and limiting most meetings to less that 10 people in a room with a chair between them. We have staff assigned to wiping down the office on a regular basis and keeping equipment and door handles disinfected. If anyone demonstrates symptoms, they are sent home.
Q: How is the morale around city hall?
A: Our Human Resources Department has put together creative ways to keep staff engaged and spirits up. We have an amazing staff here at the City. They are all willing to pitch in and do whatever is necessary as we maneuver through this unique situation.
Q: How are you preparing for scheduled city events that now may or may not happen?
A: We have canceled our Senior Social, which will be rescheduled at a later date. We are looking at options for the Basket Bash to host a virtual egg hunt instead. We are still working out the logistics of it but want to ensure that it remains a fun activity for our community with adjustments to keep everyone safe. As for Fort Herriman Towne Days, the Herriman Rodeo, etc. we continue to plan as usual, but are considering options in the event that restrictions for gatherings remain in place. We have canceled the Community Fishing program this Spring, as well as the Community Garden meeting and Localscapes workshop that were to take place in March.
Q: Are Herriman residents in any danger of their water being turned off?
A: Herriman residents will continue to receive services as usual. Additionally, the decision was made to not perform water shut offs during this month. We continue to follow the guide of the County, State and Federal government and evaluate our situation regularly.
