Century Council Questions Safety Of Town Hall After Positive COVID-19 Cases : NorthEscambia.com
The Century Town Council questioned Monday ight if the town hall is safe for workers and the upcoming primary election day because it has not been professionally cleaned since two employees were diagnosed positive for COVID-19.
On the afternoon on June 24, the town announced two employees that work in the building were positive, and they had gone home to quarantine.
Following a question by council member Brenda Spencer, Mayor Henry Hawkins said town workers had cleaned the building. He said “the little disinfecting we do in the day works”. The town does not have any cleaning personnel on the payroll.
In response, the council quickly voted to hire a professional company to clean the building with hopes that it will be eligible for federal CARES Act reimbursement.
A Monday night town council meeting in building was open to the public. All of the council members attended by Zoom but others did attend in person, including Hawkins, Interim City Manager Vernon Prather, two other town employees and at least one member of the public. And the building will be open as a voting precinct on August 18. Otherwise, it’s been closed to the public for weeks.
Staff has continued to work in the building, but Hawkins said he has them assigned to only work one at a time.
“That’s extremely dangerous,” council member James Smith said. “…When you put yourselves and other people at risk, it’s not a good thing.”
Councilman Luis Gomez expressed concern that the town was not adequately addressing COVID-19 concerns.
‘We as the city leaders, we need to start discussing this a little more,” Gomez said. “It’s digging deeper into the town of Century and its citizens.” As of Monday, the Florida Department of Health reported 76 total COVID-19 cases in the Century zip code.
Gomez said four people he knows have recently tested positive, and he mentioned a town employee by name and his wife that he said were infected with the virus. He said the town needs a plan just in case numerous employees become infected, and he believes employee were not getting tested.
“This virus is not playing,” Gomez said. “I’d rather one get sick and go home on quarantine than keep it hush-hush.”
There are only five employees, in addition to the mayor and city manager, that make up the full staff working inside the Century Town Hall.
Town Clerk Kim Godwin said one of the two currently out due to COVID-19 retested positive, and the second is expected to be tested again on August 5.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
