Governor Wolf uses a traffic light metaphor to distinguish the phases of the state quarantine. Since mid-March, Lycoming County has been in a “Red” condition, which certainly translates into “Stop.” We have been mandated to stop almost every aspect of normal life, from education, entertainment, commerce, community life, etc. I think if the governor could find a way to require drones to drop food at our homes, I doubt if we would even be allowed to shop for groceries.

But some things are not allowed to “stop,” such as guarding prisoners at the County Prison. At the County Commissioners’ Meeting on Tuesday, May 5th, Warden Shoemaker remarked how difficult the restrictions have made his job, “No one has a playbook on this. We have to make it up as we go along. There has been lots of collaboration between state and county, sharing ideas. We have no ability to shut down, but we must deal with the situation as it is given.”

This is just one example of the complexity of life that county government is facing daily. And the tap dance will continue when the county transitions to the “Yellow” phase. Just like a traffic light, yellow signifies caution, which means to proceed with care to avoid mistakes or danger. So, just how do we go about doing that when we have NEVER been in this situation before?

The Lycoming County Commissioners do not want to go into this phase by winging it. In a recent press release, they announced that the Lycoming County Government has established a County Planning and Coordination Cell to address the Re-opening of County Government Operations beyond the services it already continues to provide while transitioning to the “Yellow Phase” as authorized by the Governor’s Office on May 8, 2020.

What this will consist of will be representatives from the County Emergency Operations Center, Planning and Community Development Department, County Procurement Office, Information Services Department, Voter Services, Court Administration, Human Resources Department, Maintenance Department, Coroner’s Office, and the Prison. This Planning and Coordination Cell will analyze all CDC and State guidelines as they apply to the re-opening of County Government operations and the internal and external requirements to do so.

The purpose of all this is that the cell will identify, synchronize, and coordinate all current and future operational requirements with a deliberate review of all resource requirements to ensure the safest and most effective means of service delivery to the public. It will be a two-part process, as the cell will pay particular attention to the areas of current but also future policy development and integration, public affairs requirements, and lessons learned that ultimately identify long-term changes to Lycoming County Government operations.

Those following the commissioners’ meetings on the county website (lyco.org), will note that Commissioners Scott Metzger, Tony Mussare, and Rick Mirabito are very, very deeply concerned about the immediate and long-term impact on every facet of our society. Being small businessmen themselves, they truly appreciate the struggle that rebooting our area’s economy will be. But during this ‘red’ period, they have also noted numerous examples from every demographic and livelihood that are suffering severely by the quarantine.

To that end, county residents can be assured that the county government is going to do its very best to squeeze every opportunity for some degree of normalcy that can be found in the “yellow” phase. If they succeed, we may look back at this as our Mellow Yellow period. If not, it will be a Yelling Yellow one.