Fellow Residents:
First and foremost, I hope everyone was able to enjoy another beautiful weekend in our City! As I have said before, we have so many more walkers, joggers and bikers right now, and I am so glad everyone can take in the green space, flowers and fountains.
Secondly, thank you for your continued feedback. It is helpful, appreciated and makes us better. Please keep providing it!
Third, we had an eventful week in our State and County. Four important updates to note:
1) As I referenced in my last update, the Kansas Stay-at-Home order will end at 12:01am tonight (Monday morning).
2) On Thursday, the Governor issued her Ad Astra re-opening plan. It has four phases which last a minimum of 14 days per phase. Localities may have more restrictive rules, which I touch on in bullet #3.
Phase I begins tomorrow (Monday, May 4th), and includes:
- Gatherings continue to be limited to no more than 10 people.
- Masks and/or face coverings are encouraged in public settings.
- Social distancing is absolutely still required.
- Some additional businesses may open.
If Phase I progresses well, Phase II will begin on Monday, May 18th. The full plan may be viewed at the link below and I encourage you to look it over. It is actually a fairly easy read.
https://covid.ks.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Reopen-Kansas-Framework-043020.2.pdf
3) Johnson County has chosen to extend its Stay-at-Home Order and additional week until next Sunday, May 10th. The Board of County Commissioners had a very spirited debate on this extension in their Friday meeting and voted 4-3 to continue one more week.
Additionally, the County had published its re-opening plan, but the Board of Commissioners determined that having the County’s plan differ from the State’s plan would cause confusion, so they elected to follow the State’s plan starting next week.
4) I spoke with both Fire Chief Lopez and Police Chief Schwartzkopf this week. Their departments continue to be healthy and well, and both are executing their plans as we would want.
Finally, I want to thank the residents and staff for being flexible, thoughtful and patient during this ever-evolving pandemic.
Hopefully we have but one more week of Stay-at-Home, followed by 7 weeks of thoughtful, phased re-opening.
As I noted in my opening, please feel free to call City Hall with any questions or feedback at 913-362-9620 or email info@missionhillsks.gov. As always, you are welcome to email me directly at mayor@missionhillsks.gov.
Have a healthy and safe week!