Cranberry Township employees were sent home Friday morning and will not be returning to work at the township building for an undetermined time.
“Things started unraveling Thursday with the governor’s announcements and we had to make new plans,” township manager Chad Findlay said. “All the employees met at 9 a.m. (Friday) and they were sent home shortly after.”
In addition, the township supervisors declared a disaster emergency as a result of the coronavirus spread and business shutdowns.
The new workforce arrangement means all employees will remain on call and will be “available during regular working hours,” said Findlay.
Daily chores go on
However, the township will daily address utility and road issues.
“The roadmaster and assistant roadmaster will physically check the township roads and equipment every day and then will be on call,” said Findlay. “Especially with this rain, we need to check for plugged drains and ditches.”
The utilities supervisor and assistant will check all township parks, the water plant, pump station and other township utility-related facilities each morning.
“We have to make sure the plants are running, the chemicals are accurate, electric is on,” said Findlay. “Water and sewer are essential services.”
Township office staff will be at work in the municipal building from 8 to 11 a.m. Tuesday and Thursday next week to handle payroll, apply water and sewer payments to accounts, check messages and return phone calls.
The supervisors meeting set for March 26 has been canceled. The building remains closed to the public and utility payments can be made in the foyer of the building using the payment slot.
What prompted the change?
While the township was among the first municipalities to close its building to the public, the workforce remained on site. That changed with Gov. Tom Wolf’s announcement Thursday that non-essential businesses should close up shop.
The listing included companies working on utility construction projects.
“That hit close to me because one of our biggest projects is getting ready to slipline a sewer line on Allegheny Avenue,” said Findlay. “That’s a construction project. It was pretty clear in my mind that the governor doesn’t want regular contractors out there so why should municipal employees be doing it when others are advised not to.”
For Findlay, the substantial change in employee scheduling and the adoption of an emergency declaration are all too familiar.
“Nine months and we’ve had two disasters – the (July 2019) flooding and now the health crisis,” said Findlay. “It affected employees and routines last summer and now there’s a situation where it is happening again. In just those nine months.”
