Middletown repeals COVID-19 emergency plan
May 25—Middletown has officially repealed part of the emergency management plan activated in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The plan allowed the town to take various steps outside of its normal rules and procedures, such as altering employee schedules, closing the town office, and allowing for increased cleaning of the office, Town Administrator Drew Bowen said Tuesday.
The town's commissioners unanimously approved the repeal at a meeting Monday night.
As part of precautions taken during the pandemic, the town changed employee schedules to divide its public works team into two crews, so that one group of workers could continue if the other had a COVID-19 exposure, he said.
The town closed its offices in late March 2020 through early June of that year, and again in late June after a town employee tested positive for COVID-19.
In April 2020, the town held a vote-by-mail election for its burgess and two commissioner seats.
The town resumed holding in-person meetings in September 2021.
The town also rescinded a resolution Monday night that was passed in June 2020 to allow fitness, dance, and yoga studios to conduct their classes in town parks during the pandemic.
But while part of the emergency management plan relating to COVID-19 was repealed, the resolution approved Monday specified that the part "which authorizes the Burgess and Commissioner, as deemed necessary and during future times of large-scale emergencies and disasters, to implement its Emergency Management Plan without the need for further resolution or ordinance shall remain in full force and effect."
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