by COVID-19 has brought major challenges to the Mohawk Valley, and with winter and spring approaching, villages must come up with plans in order to handle the second wave. Frankfort Mayor, Rick Adams, provided his plans to navigate through the pandemic.
When asked about the biggest challenge the pandemic has brought, Adams said it was making sure the employees of the community remained healthy. “It’s been a balance of trying to rotate crews just in case someone fell ill, it wouldn’t take down the entire crew and leave us with no employees,” Adams said. “Whether it is the DPW, Power and Light, Police, Fire or even the office staff, a community needs to continue with these services. The approach I took was to balance carefully what is deemed emergency versus convenience.”
Mayor Adams said he had key learning experiences during the pandemic. One was that he constantly had to educate himself and his staff about the ever changing protocols being brought down from the state. “Learning and understanding state protocols is a must because when dealing with multiple types of businesses, not all fall into the same category,” Adams said.
Another learning experience was figuring out how to communicate to the community effectively on how to remain safe. Mayor Adams said there are many people that believe different things and finding middle ground has been a huge focus. Helping people understand the severity of the pandemic has been crucial.
As for preparing for the winter and spring, Adams plans on staying consistent, employing increased communication with the community and showing how important it is to follow the guidelines.
Adams stressed that we need to listen to the scientists as the second wave is hitting us harder than the first. “The biggest change I’m making would be being a lot more vocal with what we need to do when identifying deficiencies,” Adams said.
