ALPHARETTA CITY COUNCIL ADOPTS EMERGENCY OPERATIONS ORDINANCE
The Alpharetta City Council today adopted an Emergency Operations Ordinance that puts in place temporary measures to allow the local government to more quickly respond to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic. The ordinance guarantees the continued provision of essential services and also allows for Alpharetta’s elected officials to conduct meetings, including binding votes, via email.
“This is an extraordinary time in our history,” said Mayor Jim Gilvin. “As the elected representatives of the people of Alpharetta, it is this council’s duty to make sure we can continue to conduct the business of the City of Alpharetta for the people of this community. That is why we are enacting this ordinance today; to ensure we have the ability to continue to serve and protect our citizens and our employees for the next 30 days in the face of the unusual circumstances presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The ordinance allows the Alpharetta City Council to temporarily vote on actions via email without advertising or convening a public meeting. It further provides that the ordinance can be extended for an additional 30 days or repealed by a majority vote of the City Council.
“It gives us the flexibility that the private sector has to make decisions more quickly and enable us to provide services without requiring people to put their health at risk by coming to or gathering in our facilities,” Gilvin explained.
In keeping with the guidance issued by federal, state, and county health officials and the emergency declaration issued by Governor Brian Kemp, Alpharetta has already closed all its facilities to the public and cancelled all City meetings and events through April 12. While maintaining essential services such public safety, public works, and trash collection, the City has instructed all employees who can perform their duties by teleworking from home to do so. Those who must physically be at work are under direction to not gather in groups larger than necessary to complete their assigned tasks.
“We continue to closely follow the guidance issued by health professionals at the federal, state, and county level and will adjust our policies as quickly as possible as that guidance is updated to reflect this evolving situation,” stated Gilvin. “We appreciate everyone’s patience as we make these changes, and we assure the public that we will remove the measures enabled by today’s ordinance as soon as possible.”
The City of Alpharetta encourages the public to follow guidance as it is issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and has established a website, https://alpharettadps.blogspot.com/, to make it easy for everyone to access factual information about the Covid-19 situation, CDC guidance, and the City’s response and prevention efforts.
