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 Sandy City.

The Sandy 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 much of Sandy City’s workforce is working from home right now?

A: Approximately 150 employees are able to work from home.

Q: How prepared was the city to institute telecommuting practices?

A: Over the last two years, we have significantly upgraded the city’s IT capabilities. Those upgrades include increased security, infrastructure to allow for remote work, conference rooms with equipment to facilitate remote meetings, improved and expanded email systems, online platforms for employee reporting, learning management systems to track certifications and training requirements. This has all significantly help prepare the city to allow for more remote work. It would have been extremely difficult to continue our level of service during this event without these improvements.

Q: For city staff still working out of City Hall, what precautions have been taken?

A: Social distancing practices have been implemented. Limited in person meetings with less than 10 people are required. Signs encouraging hand washing and recognizing symptoms have been placed in all city buildings. Facilities personnel have implemented additional cleaning protocols especially in public areas. Break rooms and areas where employees typically congregate have been closed.

Q: What is the morale around city hall like?

A: Morale is good but no one knows what to expect. We are making decisions on a day to day basis with the hope that everything can go back to normal and we can continue to offer services, programs and events for our residents sooner than later.

Q: What precautions have been taken specifically for city staff considered to be in higher risk categories for the virus?

A: Employees who are high risk were identified immediately and asked to work from home when possible. If not possible, then these employees were put on paid time off with expectation of work hour availability and focus on online trainings.

Q: How does the event planning or parks and recreation staff continue to plan and prepare for events and programs scheduled for the next few months that may or may not be cancelled?

A: Right now we are taking it a few weeks at a time to assess whether events or programs will be postponed or cancelled. Staff are working to prepare for events and programs to resume as much as possible.