Huntington – The Town of Huntington has its first three confirmed employee cases of COVID-19, Town Hall will be closed to employees Thursday and Friday for cleaning, the Town is planning for remote Town Board and Planning Board meetings next week, and the Senior Center call center hours are changing.
EMPLOYEE EXPOSURE
The Town of Huntington Department of Assessor, located at Town Hall, has been closed to employees since Tuesday, March 24, after an employee, who had been self-isolating since leaving work Monday, March 16 due to suspected exposure to a third party with COVID-19, called in to report testing POSITIVE for COVID-19 on Tuesday, March 24; any employees reporting to work were sent home on Tuesday, March 24 and the entire Assessor's office was thoroughly cleaned and disinfected by a professional cleaning service.
The Town of Huntington Department of Engineering Services, including the Division of Building & Housing, located at Town Hall, has been closed to employees since Tuesday, March 24, after an employee, who was self-isolating since leaving work Monday, March 16, called in to report testing POSITIVE for COVID-19 on Tuesday, March 24; a second employee, who had been self-isolating since leaving work Wednesday, March 18 due to known exposure to a third party with COVID-19, called in to report suspected symptoms of COVID-19 on Tuesday, March 24; any employees reporting to work were sent home on Tuesday, March 24 and the office of the Department of Engineering Services was thoroughly cleaned and disinfected by a professional cleaning service.
“Although health care officials from Suffolk County and Huntington Hospital have advised us that closing those departments to employees was not warranted, as a precaution and for everyone’s peace of mind, employees will not be returning to the Departments of Assessor or Engineering Services until further notice,” said Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci. “While the affected departments have been professionally cleaned and disinfected, and Town Hall has been closed to the public since March 16, as an additional precaution, Town Hall will close to employees Thursday and Friday of this week for a continued thorough cleaning and disinfecting of the entire Town Hall facility.”
The Town of Huntington Highway Department has reported its first employee testing POSITIVE for COVID-19 on Wednesday, March 25; the office is closed for professional cleaning until further notice. The Huntington Highway Department office was closed to the public starting Friday, March 13. Highway had limited staffing and ceased non-emergency operations on Friday, March 20.
TOWN HALL CLOSED TO EMPLOYEES THURSDAY & FRIDAY
While health care officials from Suffolk County and Huntington Hospital advised that closing the offices to employees was not warranted, out of an abundance of caution, Huntington Town Hall will be closed to most employees, excluding some Department of General Services’ janitorial staff and Department of Public Safety Security Division staff as called upon by their Directors, on Thursday, March 26 and Friday, March 27 for a continued, thorough cleaning of the entire Town Hall facility. Town Hall staffing for the week starting Monday, March 30 will be reevaluated over the weekend.
During this time, please submit service requests through the Town’s Huntington At Your Service portal, located at: http://ww.huntingtonny.gov/at-your-service or on a specific Department page. Public safety issues may also be reported to Public Safety’s 24/7 Emergency Hotline at (631) 351-3234. Road issues may also be reported to Highway at (631) 499-0444.
SENIOR CENTER CALL CENTER HOURS CHANGED
While the Town of Huntington Senior Center remains closed to the public since Friday, March 13, due to limited staffing, the hours the public may call the Senior Center at (631) 351-3253 will change to 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM on Thursday, March 26 and until further notice.
MARCH 31 TOWN BOARD MEETING & APRIL 1 PLANNING BOARD MEETING
The Town is working on a video conferencing solution to hold both the Tuesday, March 31 Town Board meeting and the Wednesday, April 1 Planning Board meeting remotely.
All public hearings for both the Town Board and Planning Board meetings will be postponed.
The remote meeting solution is being tested; if it is determined to be a feasible solution, live-streaming will not be possible, as the Town’s only capability for live-streaming is built into the Town Board Room equipment. The meetings will be recorded, produced and video will be posted online and on government access TV channels Optimum 18 and FIOS 38 after the meeting; video production time has yet to be determined.
The latest on the Town’s Coronavirus response at http://www.huntingtonny.gov/covid19
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