Edgartown officials are preparing to limit town functions to the bare necessities and cancel town meeting in light of the growing pandemic of novel coronavirus, which leads to the COVID-19 disease. 

Town administrator James Hagerty broke down the Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) at Monday’s selectmen meeting, which outlined a detailed timeline of preventive measures the town could take to mitigate the spread of infection. 

The COOP is organized into four stages of reaction, called activation scenarios, that are determined by how other national, state, and local entities react to the prevalence of the disease. 

On Friday, March 13, Edgartown entered scenario one of the COOP, which established community outreach at the Council on Aging and some other preventive measures, but left town governance largely unaffected.

The main goal of the COOP is to keep the town’s essential functions up and running, and Hagerty said that means close coordination and organization internally. “What needs to occur here is that if you dial 911, there is a police officer who comes to your door; you turn on your faucet, and your faucet runs; you flush the toilet, your toilet flushes,” Hagerty said.

In addition to municipal infrastructure employees and emergency services personnel, the town also employs 300 people in the school and the town hall, which makes the allocation of resources essential, Hargerty said.

There are also a number of essential regulatory functions within the town that cannot afford any interruption, such as accounting and licensing bodies that must operate consistently to maintain compliance with the state. 

Based on each department’s responsibilities, Hagerty said the town has made a list of all the resources necessary for telecommuting, and another list of all the employees in each department who have the ability to telecommute. Should many town employees need to telecommute, Hagerty said they must be able to do their jobs as adequately as if it were business as usual. He said the town is in the process of transferring work lines to cell phones, and has purchased 10 laptops for telecommuting purposes. Town employees will execute a telecommute rehearsal on Thursday and Friday, where those who are able, will work from home “so they are prepared,” should the situation necessitate it, Hagerty said.

Hagerty also said officials are considering who could be next in line for a particular authority, should that main point person get sick or have to self-quarantine. “Who is the next person who can competently handle that department and act cross-functionally in that respect?” Hagerty asked. “If we were down in the accounting department, could the assessor take up some of those responsibilities?” If police respond to a call, Hagerty said, it is essential that there is still an adequate number of officers at the station.

He also said town departments need to stay in constant communication with adjacent towns in order to ensure a coordinated and well-organized response.

On the payroll end, Hagerty said the town is in “uncharted territory,” but they are going to continue to pay all their employees, regardless of whether they are telecommuting or not. “The end goal is to make sure everyone is compensated,” Hagerty said.

To comply with the open meeting law, public bodies like the board of selectmen must engage with the public virtually, whether it be through Zoom or Facebook Live, Hagerty said. “We would have to establish a public line for staff and public meetings as well,” he said.

Starting Tuesday, March 17, the town enters scenario two, which disallows public meetings, site visits, and encourages high-risk employees to telecommute.

The Council on Aging (COA) will establish a takeout window for folks to come pick up meals in a sanitary fashion, and a delivery service for seniors and the disabled. According to Hagerty, the COA is also facilitating a similar food service for the Edgartown elementary school.

Should the situation become more dire, Hagerty said the town will enter scenario three, which would mean a total shutdown of the town hall where most employees work from home, excluding financial officers and the town administrator.

The police, fire, highway, water, and wastewater departments are characterized as priority functions in all scenarios.

In scenario four (the most extreme scenario), all town hall employees would telecommute, and police and fire would be the only fully operational departments.

Currently, the town is planning to enter into a mandatory 14 to 30 day telecommute period, where town employees who are able to will work from home.

Hagerty said he has fielded many questions regarding town meeting, and said that moderators can postpone town meeting for up to 30 days. “They are trying to potentially postpone further,” Hagerty said. The town is also looking at quorum rules for town meeting that would take into account the current pandemic.

“Edgartown’s quorum is 5 percent, and we are around 4,990 registered voters, so our quorum is around 250 people,” Hagerty said. “If you don’t have town meeting by June 30, you essentially don’t have a budget for the next fiscal year.” According to Hagerty, options are being explored in the state Legislature to modify those conditions, and will “ideally be passed by legislation in the next two weeks.”

The chance of town meeting happening as scheduled, according to Hagerty, is slim if not nonexistent. It’s more than likely that town meeting is going to be canceled,”Hagerty said.

He said the town will meet on March 30 to decide how to approach town meeting. 

According to Edgartown health agent, Matt Poole, Stop & Shop officials said in a meeting they are not expecting “significant interruption in the foreseeable future.”

Edgartown Police Chief Bruce McNamee said police are looking at ways to reduce face-to-face interactions with the public, something that is difficult for a department that is so actively involved in the community. McNamee and Edgartown Fire Chief Alex Schaeffer both said there needs to be a plan to revert back to the initial approach taken by both the police and fire departments after the situation stabilizes. “We have a very social aspect within our department, but we have withheld that for now,” Schaeffer said. “We are making sure that we can respond to calls when personnel are needed, and are trying to stay one step ahead.”