The Town of Greece will be opening its buildings on Monday, May 18, 2020 so our workforce can assist our residents by providing essential services.
At this time we are asking any residents that enter any of our buildings to wear a face covering. Any employee that works directly with a resident will have one on as well because the nature of the transactions at our service counters would not allow the 6-feet distancing that is required.
The CovidShutDown@greeceny.gov email was very successful in assisting our residents with questions and concerns from all of our departments while we were closed to public access. Thousands of emails were received and we were happy to be able to help residents with a variety of issues – from issuing building permits, to help with taxes and marriage licenses just to name a few. This email address will be discontinued as of Monday May 18th. Residents with any questions or concerns can reach our main line for assistance from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm Monday through Friday by calling 225-2000. As always Supervisor Reilich’s Facebook Page and the Town Website will be critical avenues we will use to help us disseminate information on changes to service schedules, programs or any other information pertaining to this gradual return to business as usual. We have missed our interactions with our residents and we are anxious to be able to serve you face to face.
Some important information for our residents:
The Service Mall Entrance will open at 9:00 AM on Monday May 18th. All of our counters will be partially opened and staffed. We have put in place many protocols for the safety of our residents and our employees. Our buildings will be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized each evening and at several points during the day. There are hand-sanitizing stations placed at all entry/exit doors throughout our entire campus and residents are encouraged to stop and hand sanitize upon entering or exiting our buildings.
Anyone that needs the assistance of the Receiver of Taxes, the Town Clerk or the Assessor will enter the Service Mall Entrance and immediately take a number and wait to be called forward. Chairs will be placed several feet apart in the waiting area. As is the case will all our interaction with the public at our service counters, everyone will be expected to wear a face covering, our employees at these service counters will as well. Please note in accordance with the Governor’s Executive Order, face coverings will be required when the 6-feet social distancing guideline cannot be achieved. We appreciate everyone adhering to this policy until it is determined that this protocol no longer needs to be in effect.
Our Town Clerk will begin scheduling marriage license appointments starting Monday, May 18th.
We were notified by the Monroe County Clerk that the mobile DMV service that used to travel to towns outside of Greece, and the remote passport services that were offered at Greece Town Hall each Thursday have been cancelled for the remainder of the year. Please note we do NOT control these services nor did we have any input in the decision not to offer them.
Anyone that needs assistance at our building counter is asked to keep their 6- feet distance and follow any instructions given by our employees to keep order at the counter. We will monitor this counter and if necessary work on an appointment only basis for assistance if there is too much activity occurring at the counter. We are hopeful that people can be patient as we try to help our residents who are anxious to get moving on projects that require permitting.
We are asking for patience as we adjust to all of our new procedures.
We will not be opening the exterior doors of the Meeting Rooms nor will the meeting rooms be open for public use. We are monitoring guidelines on the number of people who can gather safely and we are not able to adequately monitor the use of these rooms by the public and their adherence to current suggested protocols. We will notify the public as soon as we are able to begin the process of allowing local Greece groups to once again reserve the spaces. If you have a room currently scheduled through the end of May please considered your meeting room reservation cancelled.
Our Court employees will all be reporting to work, however NYS has not given any authority for any trials to be scheduled at this time. We will, however, have staff available to answer calls, process payments received from our Drop Box or the US mail and answering email from 7:00 am on Monday, May 18th through 7:00 pm each day until such time that a court schedule is approved and at that point we will revert to our regularly scheduled hours.
Our Drop Boxes for the Town Court and the Receiver of Taxes remain open and available to our residents as always.
Our Library will also offer modified services. The Monroe County Library System (MCLS) has extended the due date on all currently checked out materials until June 29 and has suspended until further notice the delivery service that moves materials between libraries in the county. As a result, please continue to hold these items until such time that they clear us to accept returned items. Additionally, our Library is not able to offer public access desktop computing at this time. The Library is working with MCLS to restore public computer security and function as soon as possible.
We will be open to the public Monday and Friday from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM. We will also be open on Tuesday and Thursdays from Noon until 7:00 PM. On Wednesdays, our staff will be reporting but our building will be closed to the public. This will give staff an opportunity to work on programming and also to assist with cleaning protocols.
We will not be allowing unlimited time in our building there will be no gathering or any prolonged visits. We ask that you quickly browse through our collection materials, make your selections and then check out. Our preference is that anyone that is able would use the self-check stations but if they are backed up then of course our check out desk will be open and staffed. The self-check stations will be cleaned thoroughly throughout the day and there will also be cleaning materials provided for use by the public. Initially we will not be allowing usage of the quiet study area or any of the work spaces that have become a favorite of our residents, this includes any and all seating areas, the Children’s Library play areas or any place in the building that would normally be used for a prolonged visit. Because we will be restricted to only the books that are currently in our building for distribution, we will be limiting residents to two checked-out materials per library cardholder. Again, because our counter interactions with residents do not allow for 6-feet of social distancing, face coverings will be required by residents and staff.
The Barnard Crossing Library Branch will be closed until further notice. We cannot staff a second branch with the current restrictions adequately and we will be moving as many of the current materials as possible over to the main branch to increase the availability of materials to be checked out. Thank you for your understanding as we try to put in place protocols to keep our residents and our staff safe while we transition into these opening procedures.
Our Parks and Recreation Staff have worked to provide limited services at our Community and Senior Center, in particular we are trying to reinstate our Senior Nutrition Program. We are hopeful this will be a welcome opportunity for our Senior population, many of whom have been isolated at home for several weeks.
Our initial plans are to have our Senior Nutrition Program offer Outdoor dining under the pavilion to be served on the following days:
Thursday May 21
Friday May 22,
Wednesday May 27
Thursday May 28
Friday May 29
We will also have meals available for pick up between 11:30 and noon on the above dates.
As is always the case, pre-ordering is required please call our front desk at 723-2425.
Also in accordance with the Governor’s guidelines we will begin to offer low activity, outdoor fitness classes. Current offerings below are available to Greece Residents who are registered members of our Community and Senior Center.
Starting Monday, May 18th at 9:00, Greece residents can call our front desk at 723-2425 to make reservations for the fitness classes, as spots will be limited.
Tuesday May 26th at 9:00 AM
Outdoor Yoga in the pavilion
Wednesday May 27th at 10 AM
Gentle Stretch and Strength in the pavilion
We will continue to assess the success and interest in these programs and we will share new programs as they are added. We are starting slowly so we can adequately assess our programs and our ability to keep our staff and residents safe.
Our building will be closed to the public outside of the times listed above, again, we will move to have more in house services added as we are able to do so.
The ability to rent out our Lodges and Pavilions has been and will continue to be monitored. We have tried to avoid canceling any reservations unless it becomes essential that we do so. We are keenly aware of the many events and celebrations that have been put on hold and we join you in a desire to have our facilities available for your celebrations.
While we have been closed to the public our Parks and Recreation Staff have been working remotely. Our Parks staff has been busy maintaining fields and performing required mowing and work in and around our Town parks.
You may have noticed that new playgrounds were installed at Beverly Pappas Park and Columbus Park. These projects were deemed essential due to scheduling and availability of the equipment and installation teams. We are thrilled that both will be ready for the warmer weather to be enjoyed.
Our Department of Public Works was 100% fully returned to work effective April 27th. They continue to perform essential services on behalf of our taxpayers while following all safety protocols. Our Road program work will begin shortly and residents will be notified of the schedules if their roads are included in the 2020 road program.