City of Festus conducting business under ‘new normal’
The city of Festus has adapted to conducting its business under “the new normal” resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, spokeswoman Barb Lowry said.
“In the beginning, we were down to a four-day work week because of the (Health Department) guidelines and because the virus could not live on hard surfaces for more than three days, so Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, a cleaning crew would come through on those days and disinfect,” she said. “We had shifts of work for social distancing.
“On June 1, we reopened to the public. We had more space between customers and employees. The library opened up under restrictions.”
These days, municipal services and offices are operating at full capacity while adhering to safety precautions, she said.
“Business is normal,” Lowry said. “We have the social distancing, but people can come into our offices and our outdoors employees are able to do their jobs.”
She said that city-sponsored events, which were on hold for most of the year, should resume in December.
“We are having WinterFest (a yearly public event in downtown Festus) on Dec. 5,” she said. “We are having Santa House (a small structure in Schneider Park where children may tell their Christmas wishes to Santa). It will be open at various times during WinterFest and there is a schedule of times Santa will be there in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
“We didn’t want the kids to miss out. We thought people could participate outdoors with safety precautions.”
Lowry said residents can count on the city to continue to providing service.
“The city will take all appropriate steps to maintain all services and amenities for our residents,” she said.