CAO Message: We Are Open for Business!

Message from Helen Robbins-Meyer, Chief Administrative Officer:

We arrived at a huge milestone today: the end of the state’s blueprint system and of most restrictions put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

As part of that, we at the County are back open for business. We’ve opened the doors at all of our public facilities and are welcoming our customers back. It’s a thrilling moment.

I want to welcome all of you back as well. I know not everything is the way it used to be. Many of you still telework, and that is going to continue to be a large part of how we operate. Maybe it’s more like, welcome to this new chapter of ours.  

I don’t know anyone who imagined last March it would take so long to get to this point. It’s been a trying 15 months. They’ve been filled with a lot of sacrifice, frustration and suffering. You’ve shown tremendous flexibility and resilience, and I thank you with all my heart.

I also want to acknowledge that while this is a big step forward, we are still very hard at work on the pandemic and recovering from its impacts. The threat has been greatly diminished but hasn’t gone away. We’ll be monitoring the virus in our community closely and taking prevention measures as needed. You’re probably aware that for now, employees in the workplace, vaccinated or not, need to continue to wear masks and maintain social distancing. We expect additional guidance on that by later this week, and we’ll let you know if anything changes.

I’ll note as well that we are now in a very different world than we were in March 2020, and we’re not just picking up where we left off. We’ve centered efforts to examine our organization for bias and ensure equity in all the ways we serve our residents. We have a new board charting new directions for us. As chance would have it, this reopening falls between two days of public hearings on a budget that is fundamentally restructuring our operations.

So it’s an exciting moment in more ways than one. And today really is cause to celebrate several things. The easing of restrictions that affect us personally. The ability to bring the public back to their public spaces. And the achievements of the County in guiding our residents through a health crisis. Again, it’s not over. But it’s been a monumental undertaking getting us to the current situation, where we feel we can safely reopen. I commend the work of everyone who helped move us to this day, and I hope you share in the pride I take in everything you’ve done. 

Welcome back. Welcome forward.