On April 20, North Catasauqua Borough Council held its first virtual meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic began last month.

Essential borough staff like Police Chief Chris Wolfer, Fire Chief Shawn McGinley and Emergency Management Director Roger Scheirer called in from borough hall, while council and other officials stayed at home and joined the meeting through a video chat.

Council President Peter Paone, however, called from Southern California, where he has been on an essential work trip for the past three weeks.

Paone gave an opening statement thanking the police and fire departments for their work through the crisis so far, specifically to Wolfer and McGinley.

Despite his absence, Paone said he has been in regular contact with the borough staff, remarking he has been in more conference calls in the past month than in the past three years.

To help address matters related to COVID-19, Connie Molchany, borough health officer, joined the meeting to help address questions about how and when the borough will be able to reopen its public spaces.

North Catasauqua William J. Albert Memorial Park is the borough’s main concern, as its importance to the community is clear, but given the circumstances, it could pose a danger as well.

Molchany explained the virus is seeing a resurgence in the area because the Lehigh Valley is not all staying in, so reopening the parks would likely mean a return of crowds of some size.

Wolfer raised the important point that the borough needs to work with other neighboring municipalities so when things reopen in the region, it is done with coordination.

He described a possible scenario where North Catasauqua is the first to reopen its park and then gets inundated with people from all across the region.

What Wolfer suggested, and all others agreed, is North Catasauqua administration discuss with Catasauqua Borough, Whitehall Township, Northampton Borough and other municipality representatives to implement strategic phases of reopening public parks.

They could, for example, reopen the open-air areas of the park before reopening the play equipment and, later, the pavilion. This would all be done with the remaining clarification that anyone entering a public area is taking a risk with his health.

Importantly, council did not make any decision about when anything will be reopened, but the meeting marked the beginning of what will certainly be an ongoing discussion on the matter.

Similar to governing bodies around the world, the borough is trying to find a way to preserve the lifestyle and livelihoods of its residents, while also taking responsibility for their health and safety.

Most of the meeting was spent discussing the pandemic, but council also voted on a number of resolutions to apply for grants and funding the borough has been working toward over the past several months.

First of these was a grant from Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which the borough is applying for with Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor representatives to fund the North Catasauqua stretch of the D&L Trail.

Second, council agreed to apply for funding through PennVest for stormwater drain construction on Main Street.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced April 20 that some construction work could resume May 8. A more detailed plan from Wolf is expected.

It is unclear if all construction will be deemed essential by the time the Main Street project is set to begin.

Council also voted to extend the garbage bill due date to May 31 and the real estate tax bill to July 31.