Monday marked one year since COVID-19 made its first appearance in Lyon County, and City Manager Mark McAnarney feels like the City of Emporia has done about as well as could have been expected.
McAnarney, Monday’s Newsmaker guest, says the city was able to “mostly-successfully” navigate the unknown over the last year. He says one of the biggest surprises was the ability to survive from a budgetary standpoint.
McAnarney does point out some segments of the business community are still struggling and hopes things continue to improve — as the number of vaccinations increases, and active COVID cases decrease.
The city staff wasn’t immune to coronavirus — with staff members contracting the disease, or having to quarantine due to close-contact — but McAnarney says department heads prevented any major shortfalls in staffing.
McAnarney credits inter-agency cooperation — Lyon County, area civic agencies, and learning institutions — for working together to meet common goals and keep things moving forward. And, on the topic of vaccinations, he is happy they’ve been able to get a lot of the city employees vaccinated.
Emporia Fire Chief Jack Taylor will review the fire department’s COVID response, over the last year, on Tuesday’s Newsmaker. Lyon County Commission Chair Rollie Martin will look at the county’s COVID response during Wednesday’s Newsmaker.
