Schertz reschedules Taste event to June

In the wake of declarations of national, state and San Antonio states of emergencies, the Schertz City Council held its own emergency meeting Friday to discuss what to do about the coronavirus pandemic.

Maggie Titterington, president of The Chamber, which includes the Schertz-Cibolo-Selma area, told council members that her organization had rescheduled its annual Taste at Retama Park to June 25 “not out of a sense of panic or anything, but because we did want to abide by the San Antonio 500-person (gathering) ban and knew that the event would have closer to a 1,000 people.”

The event had been rescheduled for March 19.

Tickets will go back on sale May 1s at The Chamber office. Those who purchased tickets for the originally scheduled event, may use their tickets for the June 25 event.

Titterington noted that a number of chamber members notified her that they were taking extra measures to prevent the spread of the virus, including Santikos Theaters, EVO Entertainment and Chick-fil-A. Most of the additional efforts deal with greatly increased sanitation efforts, she explained.

Mayor Ralph Gutierrez said Schertz was attempting to be proactive during the crisis.

“We have not had a case of coronavirus or Covid-19,” he told the council. “This is not a declaration of emergency. It’s just a declaration of preparedness. Containment will be our priority. We must take all precautions to prevent the spread of this virus.

“We will not drag our feet and we will take action,” the mayor continued. “Our city will find a balance between confronting this virus and insuring our residents’ civil liberties are not affected. Our community must remain sensible and must remain calm.”

Kade Long, the city fire chief and emergency management coordinator, provided an overview of the situation as of Friday, including the fact that there were currently some 137,385 cases worldwide, 1,323 cases in the United States and 39 cases in Texas.

“This also shows that, in the United States, it is growing by about 200 a day at this point, so that’s important to look at,” the chief told the council.

Most area school systems have extended their spring break vacations an extra week, “so that will give them time to gather some additional facts and look at more information before they decide what they’re going to do going forward.”

EMS Director Jason Mabbitt said that, from a health care standpoint, Schertz wants to help “flatten the curve,” and keep the overall number of cases down.

“In Italy, you see that, without protective measures, the number of cases grew too fast for them and overwhelmed their health care system. And that is not what we want to do here,” he explained.

One way to do that is reduce the number of gatherings of large numbers of people and practice increased hygiene measures for events that have to take place, according to Charles Kelm, assistant city manager.

More daily cleanings have been scheduled for Schertz municipal buildings, he said. “As long as we can clean adequately between those events, we’ll continue to maintain those facilities and keep them open, those that have been rented already. I think we have the cleaning supplies and staff to do that,” he explained.

But the city is closing a number of support services for at least seven days, Kelm added, including the city library and the Schertz Senior Center. Other specific city events like Movin’ On Main, set for April 5, and the “Star” party on March 28 have been canceled.

“The Star party had folks showing up at Crescent Bend and they all look through telescopes,” added Assistant City Manager Brian James. “Although we would have wiped them down, that’s probably not what we want to have folks do.”

City staff will investigate rescheduling the Movin’ On Main event for the fall, he said. He promised city staff will continue to monitor the virus crisis and revisit the potential of future events moving forward. City parks will remain open, added City Manager Mark Browne.

Councilmembers Michael Dahle and Allison Heyward both expressed concern over the closing of the city’s senior center, pointing out that the facility not only provides vital social interaction for residents but also low-cost lunches for seniors.

The city will talk to the vendor who supplies the hot meals and try to work out providing something more portable, James said, but “seniors tend to be a very susceptible population. They’re the ones who struggle the most.” Health concerns, he explained, outweigh the potential impact of social isolation.

City staff will work with the YMCA, who operates the facility, and ask them to contact their members via phone and email to check on how they are doing, James added.

“If we are not opening the facility, there are all those things we can do to stay in contact,” he said. “But (as for the meals) until I know we can do that and do it safely, I can’t promise it.”

The city manager added that he was working on potential ways that city employees who, whether it be from illness or to care for children who cannot go to classes, might be able to work from home.

City staff will continue to brief the city manager and mayor on a daily basis on any changes to the new emergency measures, James said.