Area towns have largely retained their town employees through the coronavirus crisis, and many select boards have not yet discussed the potential of laying anyone off.
“There are no current plans for laying anybody off. We obviously are aware of the situation out there and need to have appropriate postings,” Francestown Select Board member Brad Howell said. “We will have to just see how it works going forward… Hopefully it won’t come to that.”
Select Board representatives from Antrim, Dublin, Peterborough, Greenville, Lyndeborough, Temple, Sharon, New Ipswich, and Rindge all reported no discussion of furloughs, and that all town employees are able to work, either by adjusting their office hours to not overlap with physically close coworkers, or conducting work remotely.
“It’s not the greatest way to operate a town, but we’re up against the wall,” Rindge Select Board member Bob Hamilton said.
One town employee in Wilton is currently furloughed after she had to quarantine 14 days after traveling, and then another 14 days after her son visited, Select Board member Kermit Williams said.
“We want her to come back to work either when this is over or when there’s not more issue of a disease vector,” he said, and that he believed she was eligible for enhanced unemployment benefits. The Wilton Select Board discussed whether it makes sense for town employees to step away from work and apply for unemployment until regular town operations resumed, Williams said, but had not made any moves in that direction yet. The Board did determine that temporarily laid-off employees could keep their insurance policies for the duration, he said. For now, the town planner and building inspector are taking appointments, and urgent Town Clerk business is conducted online or through the mail, he said. “We told everybody they don’t have to worry about their dogs right now,” he said.
Hancock’s conference call-based Select Board meetings are getting two to six people listening in, which is higher attendance than in-person meetings, Chair Laurie Bryan said. Hancock town employees are still working but they had to lay off their part-time transfer station employee when they scaled back services on the site, she said. The transfer station is operating on regular hours but with limited recycling, and the swap shop is closed due to the virus. Another town employee is unable to work because she’s taking care of her kids, Bryan said, but is covered under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
Lyndeborough did not consider furloughing town employees but did opt to freeze discretionary spending until after July, Town Administrator Russell Boland said.
“People are being super respectful of staying apart and extremely respectful and patient with the fact that town buildings are closed,” Bryan said. “The community’s really coming together to help people who need help. And it changes every day. That’s the very hardest thing,” she said.