Letter from the Arkansas Municipal League

Pandemic. For years that word meant very deferring payments. Can you imagine our health little to most of us. We heard periodic care system without proper water and sewer references to epidemics, those fast-moving systems? City halls must be open for business, illnesses that spread to individuals in a so officials have adapted to make their locations community or a region. Pandemic, however, was sanitary and safe. After all, Arkansans still need a word used by research scientists and historians. building and business permits, they need to put It wasn’t real to us because it hadn’t happened in zoning and planning requests. In other words, to us. Well, not like COVID-19 has. There was a the business of being in city business cannot and pandemic in 2009 known as H1N1. Eventually it does not shut down. morphed into the (H1N1)pdm09 virus. It lasted The same holds true for the League. We’ve about a year and over 12,000 Americans lost their implemented mask mandates at League lives to it. The most famous, or perhaps better headquarters, allowed telework for most of the said, infamous pandemic occurred in 1918. It was staff, gone to four-day work weeks for certain by far the most severe pandemic in recent history. departments and we’re all professionals at virtual It is often referred to as the Spanish flu. One meetings. In short, we’ve adapted because the third of the world’s population became infected work must still be done. Moreover the League and approximately continues to provide 50 million people top-notch services died, with about 675,000 deaths MUNICIPAL LEADERS ROSE TO and products for its membership. Our occurring in the United States. Two THE CHALLENGES BROUGHT publications are still some of the best in more pandemics the country, if not the have occurred in the past 70 years, ON BY COVID AND TURNED best. We dedicated a page on our one in the late 1950s and the other THEM INTO OPPORTUNITIES. website to COVID-19 information and it in the late 1960s, includes amongst both lasting about a many other things: year. Respectively they are known as the H2N2 the governor’s executive orders and directives, and the H3N2 viruses and they killed a little the health department’s directives, updates on over 2 million people worldwide and a little over federal laws like CARES, HEALS and leave time, 200,000 in the United States. In comparison, and over 20 informational documents created almost 4.7 million of our fellow Americans have by League staff to address numerous COVID/ contracted COVID-19, and more than 156,000 municipal issues. lives have been lost. Moreover, COVID has struck What does this mean for Block, Street & more than 18.4 million people worldwide and Building? It means everything. Cities and towns over 696,000 have died. Those statistics are even have adapted to the “new normal” because they more frightening considering two factors. One, had to. More importantly, however, municipal COVID has only been with us for approximately leaders rose to the challenges brought on by five months. Two, medical science is at an allCOVID and turned them into opportunities. time high for advances and the ability to care for Rather than saying they couldn’t, they said, those who are sick. “We can, and we will.” As a result, economic

I realize that’s not a very cheery way to open development can continue, albeit in unique ways, this letter. However, it is important to put into infrastructure continues to be addressed and perspective municipal services and products in urban planning is occurring daily. this very dire time. Cities and towns in Arkansas COVID-19 is here to stay until there’s a vaccine. are on the frontlines of this COVID fight and Municipal government is here to stay regardless in most instances those officials had a full-time of what the next new normal brings our way. job before the virus struck. First responders are, Cities and towns are the backbone of the basic well, the first line of defense. Municipal police, services needed every day by every Arkansan firefighters and ambulance personnel see the who lives in a municipality. From parks to virus up close and personal every shift. City planning, from police to water and from zoning and town water departments are helping those to youth programs, municipalities do it all. Great who lost jobs by allowing partial payments or cities do indeed make a great state!

Mark R. Hayes Executive Director Arkansas Municipal League