Mayor Lauren McLean
I want you to know that everyone at the City of Boise takes ensuring the health and safety of our community very seriously. And I want to thank the community for their sacrifices for us all. But we are making a difference and these measures are working to slow the spread of the virus and allow us to plan for recovery and resilience.
Governor Little announced today that the State of Idaho will move to Stage One. I support the Governor's careful consideration of how we safely re-open our state and community. Based on the state's orders, we will adopt the state plan with some additional safety measures. I signed public health orders today that will require people to keep social distancing of six feet for the next 30 days. They provide for additional protection at our airport and allow commission meetings to restart. And we're asking the public to please wear a face mask out in public.
As we plan to get back to our lives, as we plan to reopen our businesses, we must do it in a safe and responsible manner. The City of Boise has been working diligently throughout this crisis on plans to reopen City Hall, city facilities and businesses throughout our community. As we led in how we shut down operations, we plan to lead with reopening plans.
We have phased plans in place for our internal operations and those that affect the entire community. Our internal plan in focused on the health and safety of our employees and the public. Our requirements are more stringent than those being required of other businesses because we think it is important to get this right and to model this for the community.
In Stages One and Two, we are looking at a very limited reopening for all departments with a focus on what services we can still provide remotely for programs, services and field operations, public events, meetings and facilities. We're looking at staffing and remote work and will require physical distancing, face masks and staff screenings. Planning and Zoning, Historic Preservation and Design Review commissions will be conducted virtually through teleconference software (Zoom) to continue routine business beginning in May.
We will also open city facilities in a staged manner. Phase One will be very limited in scope and addresses critical public services, maintenance of facilities, inspections, recycling and compost and limited golf and whitewater park activities. Phase Two will add options for the library, Boise Depot, dog parks, expanded golf, bike skills part and park restrooms. Group sizes will be limited to 10 people.
Phases Three and Four have additional openings that we are hopeful to make if we all pay attention and do the right thing. I want you to note that there are no dates assigned to each phase for the City of Boise. As we all eagerly anticipate the reopening of our city; we must remember that this virus does not have a timetable. It is unpredictable and doesn't recognize dates.
We will decide when to change stages (forward or backward) based on data and science, using information about the spread of the virus, healthcare capacity, and our public health system’s ability to test and isolate rapidly.
Fully detailed plans are available to the public at CityofBoise.org/COVID-19.
I'm deeply grateful to our state, county and city partners collaboration and applaud everyone’s tireless work to keep everyone safe. We will continue to monitor the situation and will be in touch with regular updates to the public. It is still important, until we have a vaccine, that we stay safe, stay apart and wear face masks for the greater good of our entire community.