EASTHAMPTON – Days before Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration initiated Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plan, Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle announced the city’s municipal offices would remain closed to the public until September.

In an order effective July 1, LaChapelle directed that the Easthampton City Hall, Council on Aging, public schools and all other public buildings remain closed. The offices have not been open to the public since March 16, three days after she declared a state of emergency in response to the coronavirus pandemic. LaChapelle’s original emergency order was preceeded by Baker’s statewide emergency declaration on March 10.

During her weekly virtual town hall meeting, LaChapelle said, among other things, the reason for the extended closure was the fact that many municipal buildings were not originally designed for public access in the first place.

“We’re still vetting that space to keep folks safe, starting with our employees,”?she said. “In no way to we want to put anybody at risk.”

Essential municipal services remain unaltered.

“Government core functions have not stopped at all during the pandemic; they will continue remotely,” she said.

With that said, effective July 15, the public will be permitted to schedule in-person appointments with city departments. These in-person meetings will be required to take place outdoors in the City Hall parking lot in “accessible semi-enclosed tents,”?which will be equipped with tables and chairs.

LaChapelle cited “research and science” that indicated outdoor transmission is less likely to occur as the reasoning behind the decision.

“If somebody has an in-person transaction or needs to have a conversation with a city employee, there will be a safe place for that to happen,”?she said.

There will be no drop-in service at these tents as the city is encouraging its employees to work remotely as much as possible, LaChapelle added.

"Our team across all of our departments have done a really amazing job in fulfilling their core responsibilities to the residents of Easthampton while staggering their working remotely to keep each other safe, and their families,” she said.

The lobby of the Public Safety Complex will remain open to the public, however drug collection and firearms licensing is still suspended.

Contact with dispatch will be available via the lobby’s phone and a sharps disposal container will be available. Further, meeting space in that facility also remains off-limits to the public.

LaChapelle stressed that state and CDC guidance on social distancing and staying at home has remained the same throughout the pandemic.

“You are safer at your home; that’s just where you’re safest,” she said. “The more time you can spend in your home, where you live, the safer we all are.”