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ELKINS -- Falling in line with Gov. Jim Justice's plan to begin reopening businesses in West Virginia, city officials announced Thursday that Elkins City Hall's doors will reopen to the public on Monday, May 11.
This plan relies heavily on the amount of COVID-19 cases documented over the next week and City Hall will only reopen as long as Justice does not reverse or slow the process of reopening the state, officials said.
"I'm excited about the governor's plan of adding more openings week by week," Mayor Van Broughton told The Inter-Mountain Thursday. "This week was huge with the medical facilities like dentists, eye doctors and physical therapists (reopening). Next week will be even bigger when we open businesses with less than 10 people and outdoor dining.
"Our city hall will be opening, and restaurants will be able to support dine-in on week three and social distancing will still be important, but this is a big step in the right direction," the mayor said.
"I'm so thankful to the community in Randolph County. They've really been good at social distancing and wearing masks. Just to have four positive cases is four too many but compared to a lot of other counties, we've really been blessed."
Broughton's executive order to reopen City Hall "does not rescind his March 17 declaration of a citywide state of emergency in Elkins and leaves in place his prohibition of door-to-door solicitation and yard, garage and similar sales," a city press release states.
Second Ward Councilman Charlie Friddle, chair of City Council's Finance Committee, believes that it's important to reopen small businesses in the area quickly, but safely.
"We'll probably have to take it a little bit slowly and carefully but I'm optimistic that we'll get through this in a safe manner," he said. "As far as City Hall goes, we need also need to get City Hall open as soon as we can."
Despite the reopening of City Hall to the public, Friddle is still urging citizens to use the online bill paying feature on the city website to maintain social distancing as much as possible.
As chair of the Finance Committee, Friddle believes that city revenues will improve in time with business openings.
"I think there's no question that it will improve but I think that, at the same time, realistically we have to understand that there's going to be some decline in revenues during the next quarter," he said. "Fortunately, the city has a rainy day fund that has money in it that can help us carry through, which will give us the opportunity to really look at this and see what adjustments we need to make without having to make decisions more quickly than we'd like."
"It may not improve as quickly as everybody may like. Some people will still be concerned even after we open everything up that they'd rather wait awhile but we'll get there," he said.
The city's website. cityofelkinswv.com, now features a "reopening guide" for business owners who may have questions about the plan.
This guide provides information about the DHHR-mandated customer limits in stores as well as reminding businesses owners that reopening is not a requirement.
"Even when your business is allowed to reopen, the decision is up to you as to whether to do so. No one is being ordered to reopen," the guide states.
"A lot of business owners have been in contact with us over the last weeks and it's clear that while they're all eager to reopen, they're also paying very careful attention to the recommendations that are out there and it's clear that they really want to do it right, do it carefully," said Sutton Stokes, external affairs specialist for the city. "That's great to see and hopefully these guidelines from the Governor will put everyone on the same starting point as far as how to operate as safely as possible."
"These recommendations are a minimum and it would be best if everyone was thinking about how to exceed them, depending on the particular shape of their shop or other aspects of their operations. It has to be a team effort. A problem in one business is really going to affect the community and affect how viable some of these reopening measures remain," he said.
The City of Elkins is also collaborating with the Elkins-Randolph County Chamber of Commerce and Elkins Main Street to host virtual "reopening round table" events for restaurant owners and small business owners.
The dates are tentatively scheduled for Monday, May 4 and Tuesday, May 5, though final information has not yet been released.
"We're anxious for businesses to get back open and for things to get back to normal, but of course we have to be cautious," said Fourth Ward Councilwoman Karen Wilmoth.
"This thing hasn't gone away. It's been reduced because we're staying home and when we start going out again we have to be really careful and keep our distance," she said. "If you go into a business that has (markings) on the floor to stay six feet apart, we need to do it."
Wilmoth said that City Hall will also be marking spots on the floor for patrons to wait while maintaining their distance.
"I'm looking forward to things getting back to normal but I know it's going to take time," she said.