Town Update COVID-19
March 31, 2020
To: All Property Owners, Residents, and Potential Visitors to Waterville Valley:
I am writing as a follow-up to our Facebook post on Saturday, March 28th.
Last Saturday, we provided recommendations (not orders) based on our observations of people’s actions over the previous week. These actions made it appear that many are still not taking the on-going health crisis seriously. We shared our request for people to not travel to Waterville Valley because of large numbers of people here in town - at condos, single-family homes, in the parking lots of trail heads, and along the road to the ski area. Folks may be coming here for the day or they may be here for an extended period of time, we do not know for sure; but the bottom line is that last weekend, and even now, greater numbers of people than normal are here in the Valley.
Due to our small staff size, we are not able to operate effectively for long periods of time when staffing is at reduced levels. We are working on staffing by teams which means manning in all of our departments is half or less than our regular manning. If we have people out sick, we have an even greater reduction in capacity. The more people we have in the community, sick or not, the greater the probability that we will have more sick people here in the future and that more of our staff will also get sick. That is not good for anyone; not good for visitors, not good for the people who live here, and not good for our staff.
We value our all property owners, guests and others here in our community. As a resort community all are critical to the vitality and economic future of our Town. We did not, and do not, intend to offend anyone in any way. If you are taking necessary precautions and acting in a responsible manner, please don’t take our comments personally. We are trying to help people understand that it is currently not safe to travel to a resort area such as Waterville Valley. Infrastructure and staffing for Public Safety and other public services are not set up to operate for extended periods of time with large numbers of sick people in our community. We are seeing attitudes and actions by people around town that show a disregard for the guidance from all levels of government to limit contact and chances for exposure. That means that sometimes we have to address the lowest common denominator to get our point across.
We will work with additional messaging in the coming days and weeks. We are livestreaming information updates each Wednesday at 3PM on the Town YouTube channel with either the Selectmen’s regular meeting or with a Town Hall style information session. We will also be including a newsletter with the upcoming water/sewer bills with information on the virus situation. As new information is transmitted to us, we post it on the Town website, put it on social media platforms, and send it out via email.
Only if people treat everyone (including themselves) as having COVID 19, and keep as isolated as possible, can we lessen the spread of the virus and do our part to stop the pandemic. Traveling into and out of the Valley increases the danger to everyone and must be minimized. That message – blunt as it might be – is what we are trying to get people to understand.
Finally, we all need to treat each other with kindness and respect. Treating each other poorly is only going to increase the burdens we all face during this time. We need to take care of each other and do the right thing. Right now, taking care of each other is staying at home as much as possible and implementing proper social distancing. But we can do those things while smiling, and encouraging each other with a wave and a kind word. Waterville Valley has always had a reputation for being a tight-knit community whose members treat each other as family. Let’s maintain that character as we move through this situation. We are all looking forward to the day when we can return to a semblance of ‘normal’ and begin to enjoy our wonderful community together again.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at wvmanager@watervillevalley.org or you can call our office on Mon-Wed-Fri, 8AM to 4PM at (603) 236-4730.
We hope you remain well.
Sincerely,
Mark F. Decoteau
Town Manager
Town of Waterville Valley, NH
Waterville Valley Town Office building will be closed for to the public for walk-in business. **UPDATE AS OF 3/27/2020. The office will be available to take phone calls and make appointments on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The office will be CLOSED on Tuesday and Thursday. We are encouraging all customers to conduct all business online via the Town Website for Motor Vehicle renewals, property taxes and water/sewer payments. For emergencies which cannot be handled remotely, please call the office to discuss alternatives to handle your situation. The office phone number is 603-236-4730. https://www.watervillevalley.org/home/pages/e-services
Waterville Valley Public Safety Dept building will be closed to the public. If you have an emergency, please call 911 directly! For non-emergencies, please call dispatch at 603-236-4732. Administrative staff will be available Monday though Friday from 8am to 4pm.
Waterville Valley Public Works buildings are closed to the public. Collection of trash will continue as normal. The Transfer Station dumpsters remain open to the public. The gated area for construction debris, appliances and like items will be open for ADJUSTED hours of operation of Monday-Wednesday-Friday 10:00am–3pm, and Tuesday,Thursday & weekends CLOSED. Please call the Town Office at 236-4730 during weekdays for assistance outside of these times. The assistance will be dependent upon on employee availabilty on each day.
Waterville Valley Recreation Dept buildings will be closed to the public until further notice. All programming is temporarily suspended until further notice.
Waterville Valley Osceola Library will be closed until further notice. E-Books are able to be downloaded from the State Library and links are posted upon the website. https://nh.overdrive.com/
Waterville Valley Post Office is open for regular business with ADJUSTED hours** until further notice. UPDATE TO POST OFFICE HOURS
** ADJUSTED HOURS (beginning Monday, 3/30/2020)
- Monday - Friday: OPEN 8am and CLOSE 12noon.
- Saturday: OPEN 8am and CLOSE 11am.
- Sunday : CLOSED ALL DAY.
In an effort to provide more social distancing and protect those at higher risk of COVID 19 we are dedicating the following days and times at the POST OFFICE to serve individuals 60+ years old or with medical conditions which put them at greater risk of infection. We are asking our community to help us ensure the integrity of this measure by observing these hours.
- 8AM to 10AM on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday
- 8AM to 9AM on Wednesday and Saturday
Please realize this is an active State of Emergency and that Town personnel are closely monitoring updates from State and Federal agencies. All residents, guests and property owners are urged to follow CDC guidelines for preventing any spread of the virus both in-home and in our community.
We thank everyone for practicing the highest level of hygiene and for an abundance of patience and common sense during this time!
