Police, fire lobbies still closed to public
City manager Marc Maxwell briefed the city council on Sulphur Springs’ progress due to COVID-19 closures at Tuesday night’s May city council meeting.
According to Maxwell, the majority of city offices have now reopened. The lobbies of the police department, fire department, water treatment plant and wastewater treatment plant remain closed, however, he stated.
The public library has partially reopened in that the library, like area restaurants, are doing drive-through service for book pick-up and drop-off, Maxwell said. The senior activity center remains closed, but Meal-A-Day (also known as meals on wheels) continues to operate, Maxwell said.
Employees at the police and fire stations will continue to have their temperature taken when arriving at work, Maxwell stated. As the city begins to reopen municipal court, the city will also consider taking the temperatures of those who have a scheduled court date, and rescheduling court appearances for anyone who has a temperature elevated above 100.4 degrees, he stated.
Mayor John Sellers, Maxwell, SSPD Chief Jason Ricketson and SSFD Chief David James attend weekly emergency operations briefings in person with the Hopkins County emergency management team, and Sellers and Maxwell meet an additional time per week virtually with city department heads to convey information from their emergency briefings, Maxwell said.
Of note to the council, Maxwell said, was that although completion of the wastewater treatment facility was hampered by COVID closures, the project-- intended to be finished in January-- is now done. The project came in $265,000 under budget, Maxwell said.
One ongoing impact of COVID closures, however, is construction from McCann Street to Holiday Drive, Maxwell said.
“We still haven’t done much on these two streets since we are still trying to understand the extent of the economic impact of COVID,” he noted.