City of West Fargo announces municipal service changes due to new orange risk level in Cass County

 

On Wednesday, Oct. 14, Governor Doug Burgum announced Cass County is changing to the orange, high-risk level effective 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16. In accordance with this change, the City of West Fargo is adjusting municipal services and building operations based on North Dakota Smart Restart guidelines to continue operating safely for both employees and the public. All changes will go into effect at 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16.

The West Fargo Public Library will remain open to the public with safety protocols in place, including the availability of masks and sanitizers, below capacity seating, suspension of programs and meeting room use at the library and the availability of self-service hold pickup and item checkout. For more information about specific COVID-19 safety protocols or information about library events and programming held at sites outside of the library, visit www.westfargolibrary.org.

The West Fargo Police Department lobby will close to the public and all non-essential fingerprint appointments will be canceled.

City Hall will also close to the public, except for scheduled Municipal Court proceedings. Municipal Court will continue as scheduled and all parties are directed to comply with all court notices to appear. To inquire about specific court protocols, please call (701) 433-5516. The public is encouraged to utilize the drop box in front of the north entrance of the building.

The Assessing Department will not schedule any on-site property reviews for occupied buildings during the high-risk designation. Building Inspections will conduct inspections by email request only. For details, visit westfargond.gov/190/Building. Public Works and Sanitation buildings will remain closed to the public as well.

The West Fargo Fire Department is closing their stations to the public. All employees within the fire department will be wearing PPE, sanitizing thoroughly, doing temperature checks and maintaining social distance guidelines.

All public meetings will exclusively use video conference and phone participation options. To determine options for participation for a specific meeting, please check the events calendar on www.westfargond.gov. Details of these meetings are subject to change until the meeting begins, so attendees are encouraged to check the calendar as close to the meeting date and time as possible. City of West Fargo staff is also only able to meet with the public via phone or video conference while in the orange risk level.

Each department may have their own individual policies and procedures based on the needs and functions of the department that will go into effect. The community is encouraged to call (701) 433-5300 and ask to speak to the specific department to check their operational policies.

Contracted cleaning crews will thoroughly clean and disinfect all areas of any building in use.