A lack of dedicated staffing drives Temple’s ongoing closures of town properties, emergency management director John Kieley said.
Temple closed its town buildings and lands in March. Since then, the library has opened for remote services and the town common and trails at the town forest have reopened for families to use, but town buildings and the ball field, tennis court, and the playground remain off limits to groups without explicit Select Board approval, Kieley said.
The difference between Temple and next-door Peterborough, which opened its recreational facilities, is that Temple doesn’t have any dedicated staff to supervise activities on town lands to make sure residents are following CDC guidelines, Kieley said.
So far, the Select Board fielded a couple requests to use the town buildings for family functions, such as funerals, Kieley said. “It just didn’t seem like a safe thing to do,” he said. The Select Board had to speak to a couple dozen adults who flaunted the town ball field’s closure on several occasions, Kieley said. “There was a group of adults who decided that their recreation was more important than anybody’s health,” he said. The residents ignored and vandalized signage at the fields and weren’t following CDC guidelines regarding physical distancing and mask wearing, he said. “Thankfully the Select Board held their ground,” Kieley said, and got the group to stop gathering in Temple after a couple rounds of communication.
Kieley pointed to the town’s Tai Chi group as “a great example of an activity that fits right in the middle of what the state is allowing,” taking place outdoors, in a small group, with distancing naturally built in.
On the whole, Temple residents seem to be up to speed with COVID-19 precautions and seem appreciative of the steps the town has taken, he said, although he’s heard a small number of residents calling it a hoax. “The State of New Hampshire has done an extremely good job since March on this whole pandemic. When I have an issue, I call and the help I need gets to me within hours,” Kieley said.
“We have been adhering to rational rules that make sense,” Select Board member Bill Ezell said. Temple residents received a letter last week warning them about the controversial tent revival currently underway in New Ipswich, and to be careful while out and about, Ezell said. Kieley referred to the nearby event as “the worst idea, ever” in light of the state’s COVID-19 recommendations, speaking last week.