We remain committed to delivering city services amid the newly issued “Safer at Home” order by Governor Evers. We have to.
According to the order, “each government body shall determine its essential government function, if any, and identify employees and contractors necessary to the performance of those functions.” And while that statement gives us a lot of latitude and discretion, we are leaning on our department heads to drive our execution of the directive.
Those leaders have been working on plans for two weeks, and are ready to put them in place. In consultation with the administration, we have asked them to determine what services we should continue during the order, and how.
They are bringing those plans to life now.
Those services will obviously include our police, fire and health departments, as well as those supporting our elections, utilities, and garbage pickup, among others. There are also more internal-facing functions that must continue to ensure bills are paid, administrative support is available, engineering projects continue, etc.
Some will work from home, where possible, and some may not be asked to work at all — with a need to remain flexible based on staffing needs. Other employees will be asked to redeploy to other functions where needed, based on their skills and the city’s needs, and we have been doing this very well on a small scale for a week. We will be stepping up those efforts in the days, weeks and likely months ahead.
Our employees have been stepping up throughout the pandemic, and I can’t thank them enough. I detailed a lot of their work in a previous Mayor’s Message.
Our department heads lead the way, and they have hundreds of years of experience behind them as they take the steps necessary today to confront this “new normal.” I have leaned on them throughout this effort, and will continue to, as we adapt to delivering services in a “Safer at Home” environment and make collaborative decisions necessary along the way.
The health and safety of our people — and all of you — will be our first priority at all times. Please heed the order.
Stay safer at home, knowing that there are lots of people who may not be able to do that because of the jobs they do.
For More Information
If you have any questions about a certain service, please contact us at 414-762-2222. You can also get regular updates on COVID-19 on the city’s website and on our Facebook page. We will also be using the SM Works platform to share information on our response to COVID-19 via email to interested individuals. To join the email list, please sign up for the service and/or app, and submit your email address.
Also, we are using our AlertSense platform to share updates during the pandemic via phones. Sign up here, and ask others to do so, too. You can also sign up for text alerts. All landlines are already included in the service, but mobile phone lines must be added individually.
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