Cedar City Council proceeding as normal, encouraging caution in light of COVID-19

CEDAR CITY — Wednesday’s Cedar City Council meeting will be held as normal, but the city has announced some closures and procedural changes and is encouraging residents to practice steps to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

Mayor Maile Wilson-Edwards told Cedar City News online participation in the meeting is being encouraged.

“We will continue monitoring the situation and recommendations coming from the state and health departments and make adjustments where and when necessary,” she said. “While we will still be holding our City Council meeting this week. As social distancing has been shown to be effective, we encourage online participation in our meetings that have already, and will continue to be streamed on YouTube.”

She added that the city’s primary concern is the safety of residents.

“As a city, this is a fluid situation and want our residents to know that we are working to keep everyone safe while still serving our community,” she said.

At least week’s meeting, the council voted to accept the Municipal Wastewater Planning Program report presented by Eric Bonzo and approved an ordinance amending language regarding how notice of zone changes is posted on property to be rezoned. The council also approved revisions to the 2019-2020 fiscal year budget, and a contract with architect Mark Wilson regarding the design and construction of a multi-purpose building as an addition to the Cedar City Aquatic Center.

‘We’re fortunate to be where we are located’

On Saturday, the Cedar City Corporation released a statement on Facebook encouraging residents to use online services and phone call when available and noted that the city is prepared to make changes to procedure as necessary.

“We are prepared to modify plans as additional information becomes available at the state and federal levels,” the statement read. “This is not the time to panic or spread fear; instead, we encourage citizens to be cautious, stay safe and consider what steps they can take to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.”

The statement also notified residents of the closure of the aquatic center until March 30, or until further notice.

According to the city’s website, other precautions include the police department suspending fingerprinting services and canceling programming at the Cedar City Library. The library will remain open, as of Tuesday, but staff reserve the right to ask individuals with symptoms of illness to leave.

Cedar City Councilman Scott Phillips said he feels its important to continue with normal daily activities.

“We need to try and be careful, but we need to go on about our daily lives,” he said. “We’re fortunate to be where we are located, so far we’ve been pretty successful at keeping this at bay in our area.”

He added that the city will still need services to be functional, but caution is being exercised.

“We’re trying to keep the city functioning because we have to keep garbage going, we have to keep the street departments going,” Phillips said. “We’re going to have on again off again snow here for the next week, and we’ve got to get the snow plows out. I think more than anything we’re trying to be cautious, but we’re trying to still lead normal lives.”

Information about closures and online services can be found at the Cedar City website, as well as a link to the live stream of the City Council meeting.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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