Following Gov. Tom Wolf’s Thursday afternoon announcement of closures of schools, community centers and other venues throughout Montgomery County to mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), Norristown officials have announced that the Norristown Recreation Center is closed, next week’s municipal council meeting has been canceled and a range of services are being reduced.
While Municipal Hall remains open for business on March 13, all departments are trying to cut down on one-to-one meetings and utilize teleconference options to prevent any potential spread in the virus. Visitors to Municipal Hall are encouraged to use sanitary towel stations placed throughout the building. As of Thursday, none of the county’s 13 presumptive positive coronavirus cases originate in Norristown.
The following list details some of the actions being taken throughout the municipality, scaling back on parking enforcement to the cancelation of code enforcement property inspections.
MUNICIPAL COUNCIL
The regularly scheduled work session meeting of the Norristown Municipal Council on March 17 has been canceled.
NORRISTOWN POLICE AND FIRE
Norristown Police and Fire departments have officially canceled current and future community programs until further notice. Police will be temporarily scaling back parking enforcement operations in our neighborhoods to accommodate the additional number of people who will be home. Window operations at the Police Department remain open.
NORRISTOWN RECREATION
The Norristown Recreation Center will be closed and the recreation department’s activities will be suspended until further notice. A deep clean is scheduled for the weekend to thoroughly disinfect and sanitize the building.
CODE ENFORCEMENT
Effective immediately, the following activities have been suspended for a period of at least 30 days, this may be extended if needed: Rental Inspections; property transfer inspections; non-emergency housing complaints; and scheduled non-emergency inspections with the fire department.
PLANNING DEPARTMENT
All zoning, subdivision and grant program activities that require one-on-one contact with the public will be conducted through the Planning Department window at Municipal Hall. Small business consultation services shall be done by phone interviews until further notice. Small business seminars are suspended until further notice.
PUBLIC WORKS
Any in-person meetings have been canceled in lieu of phone calls.
The municipality will update its website regularly with the latest information about community events, building closures, or other areas regarding service to the community. Please go to https://www.norristown.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=193 for the latest updates.
