Coronavirus Surge Spurs Changes In Municipal Building Schedules

Township employees are working modified shifts in an effort to quell a surge in coronavirus infections in the municipal building.

Township Manager Robert Vornlocker told the Township Council at its November 24 virtual meeting that the number of employees who have tested positive for the virus – and thus must be quarantined – has been on the upswing.

“We’ve had more in the last three weeks than we had in the entire time since this pandemic started in March,” he said. “This is of serious concern to me as the township manager as it relates to the work force.”

Vornlocker wrote in an email that there were 12 quarantines of municipal employees from March 13 to October 23, and 21 quarantines from October 23 to November 23.

Those totals include employees who must quarantine because of “positive test, direct exposure at work, direct exposure outside of work, department, etc.,” Vornlocker wrote.

In addition to municipal offices being open by appointment only, Vornlocker said that township employees are working every other day.

Vornlocker said one person getting sick in a small office of, say, five people, “could effectively wipe out the entire department at one time.”

Vornlocker asked residents to be patient when trying to contact municipal employees.

“Please leave a message and we will do our best to get back to you,” he said. “I will continue to be in the office every day. If you need something call extension 6201 or 6208, which is the clerk’s office.”

“This is a very serious circumstance that we’re in and I don’t want to see it have any more of an adverse impact on our workforce than it already has,” he said.

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