With COVID-19 surging, Westport Island should prepare for a possible return to town staff working remotely, Town Clerk Julie Casson said Nov. 9. In an UberConference selectmen’s meeting, Casson also said the town should keep residents up to date on protocols.

She said Gov. Janet Mills’ recent mask-wearing proclamation applies to parking lots and any other public place, including the town office. So staff need to make sure the office has signage on wearing masks in accordance with the proclamation, she said. “I just want to be a little more proactive, so that we can make sure everyone who comes to the town office is healthy and ... we keep our town as healthy as possible.”

Plans call for putting Mills’ order on the town website and, at Deputy Municipal Agent Gaye Wagner’s suggestion, looking into a possible Mailchimp subscription to start an email list to help keep residents informed. “I think that would be a great idea,” Casson said. Funds left in an elections grant might be able to cover the subscription, Wagner said.

First Selectman George Richardson wondered if the town could also spend the grant money on a device to take people’s temperature on the forehead. Wagner said maybe not the elections grant, because “We can’t turn people away” at the polls. But she said she would look into emergency management sources. Either that or another Keep Maine Healthy grant, if there is one, could fund it, she said.

As for a return to staff working from home as they did earlier in the pandemic, Casson told the board, “I’m hoping it doesn’t get to that point, but as a group I think the staff ... should discuss what did and didn't work ... last spring.”

Also Nov. 9, the board agreed to buy E911 addressing officer Richard Gray a Global Positioning System (GPS) instrument Wagner said Forestry Supplies has on sale for $80.