The City of Plant City dove headfirst into the available CARES Act coronavirus funding in an effort to make sure it protects its employees and citizens with major renovations at government buildings.
When the pandemic hit this spring, the city immediately transitioned its workforce so many worked from home while those who did come into the office had barriers and protective equipment at every turn. The months passed and issues increasingly arose as the city dealt with the reality that this pandemic would not come to a swift end anytime soon.
The moment the CARES Act funding became available to local governments, the city applied and has spent the last few months in a whirlwind making sure the money was used to complete massive and impactful projects.
If you walk into City Hall now, the faint sounds of saws and hammers can be heard echoing through the walls. The entire second floor of the building is gutted and the majority of the offices on the other floors are vacant. The building has undergone a drastic transformation in just a matter of weeks, and thanks to the talented construction crew, the renovation is almost complete.
Tray Towles, director of Professional Standards, had nearly all of his duties put aside. The funding was approved in late September and the city immediately got to work. The projects have to be complete by Dec. 30, so crews are racing against a ticking clock. There are exactly 100 individual projects underway throughout the city that will cost millions of the allocated funds to complete. The impact, however, will go far beyond this pandemic.
“We applied for this funding and immediately began putting it to use because we realized the impact COVID-19 was having on our ability to do our jobs,” City Manager Bill McDaniel said. “These changes — new cubicles and counters, contactless card readers, glass barriers, automatic doors, you name it — they will make a massive impact in keeping our staff and our residents safe. COVID-19 is an infectious disease. But so is the cold. So is the flu. We are constantly dealing with one infectious agent or another and by having these projects in place, we will be doing so much more than just taking precautions against COVID. In the long run it will also be minimizing the risk of other infectious diseases striking our workforce.”
Towles is juggling a master list of all of the projects the city plans to use the funding to put into place. Some of them include massive overhauls, from the new cubicle workstations that run floor to ceiling and limit the exposure of those who sit in each desk to other people to technology improvements like ensuring they have stronger bandwidth and a new contactless timestamp system that automatically checks each employee’s temperature when they clock in.
Many doors are being replaced with ones that automatically open. Restrooms are being outfitted with contactless appliances. Hallways are being rerouted to ensure break rooms are no longer in the offices of employees who are trying to work, but rather in their own set-off areas. Hand sanitizer stations will be dispersed throughout the buildings. Virtual meeting software was purchased and installed to ensure those who do work from home can still stay up to date with their coworkers and bosses. Entire stations are being rebuilt from the ground up to keep employees separate from the general public to limit the spread of COVID-19.
While much of the large renovations are happening at City Hall, other government buildings like the Parks & Recreation facility and the Plant City Police Department are also being remodeled and outfitted with new equipment as well. Solid Waste is even getting an Xtreme Sanitization Cube for its employees. It’s a cube that sprays a dry, sanitizing mist on those who walk through it. The mist is safe on skin, clothes, and glasses and is designed to safely and thoroughly disinfect employees. Other agencies across the city will also receive minor upgrades to protect their employees.
“It was relatively easy to identify the three categories we needed to address first, and from there we were able to quickly put things into those categories that were our top priority,” McDaniel said. “We knew we needed to improve our technology to remotely work employees. We realized we had a deficiency because while we had a few training laptops, we didn’t have anything in place to remote work the majority of our staff. That led to us needing a better bandwidth. We had to have a way for residents to virtually and remotely report things and pay their bills. We needed barriers in place to protect not only our people, but the residents that come into these buildings to interact with them. It became a layering strategy and before we knew it we had a complete list.”
Towles listed off the 100 approved projects and said most are nearing completion. The only ones that won’t be done by Dec. 30 are due to the items being ordered but late to arrive due to the high demand across the country. However, everything has been purchased and put into motion so all city employees will be able to safely come back into the new workplaces by Jan. 11. Kiosks that will allow residents to pay their bills virtually rather than go up to a window and interact with city staff will also be up and running soon.
“Everything is paid for with the CARES Act funding,” Towles said. “And we also have a Plan B ready to go if Congress decides to allocate more money. My entire assignment has been managing this project and when it’s all done, the layers of safety precautions we will have in place will make this feel like a completely different building and will change the lives of the staff. We had a very tight deadline, but we did what we had to do to make sure everything went seamlessly.”
McDaniel compared the process to a home renovation. It’s uncomfortable to do because you are displaced during the renovation, having to make sacrifices and work in frustrating conditions to get the job done, but the discomfort is well worth it once the job is complete.
Using that analogy, some areas like PCPD are undergoing significant, but still controlled renovations via new workstations and offices. Parks & Recreation is getting a facelift with a new layout that will ensure there is a barrier between the public and the staff. The changes to City Hall are similar to a homeowner purchasing a historic home, gutting it and practically starting over with only a few rooms remaining in its original design. Each improvement will act as one more layer to keep someone safe and McDaniel said he believes this will put the city leaps and bounds above where it had been this spring in terms of keeping everyone safe.
“We have had to rethink how we do business to significantly reduce the spread of COVID-19,” McDaniel said. “We’ve got a small army working for us to make this happen, and so far this company (Manhattan) has really seemed to be doing a great job… The CARES Act will do a lot to help us reduce the spread of the coronavirus, but we are also doing something that will benefit us for years to come. COVID-19 may fade into the background over time, but these improvements will carry over into protecting our staff from all sorts of things that could come. Who knows what will be around the corner? With this funding we are able to make sure we are prepared to protect our people and adapt however we must to keep people safe while still doing our jobs.”