City of Mountain Home COVID-19 Updates

To help minimize the risk of COVID-19 (coronavirus), the City is taking precautionary measures. We will continue to monitor this situation and will share updates if and when they are received.

The health and well‐being of the Citizens and Employees of the City of Mountain Home are very important and we recommend following the guidelines being sent forward by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Idaho Central Health District. We are also monitoring the newly created Idaho Coronavirus website at https://coronavirus.idaho.gov/

Based on the facts and information we have currently, we recommend everyone follow the protocols and best practices set forth by the CDC. www.cdc.gov

The following information regarding city services and amenities will be updated as the situation develops:

City Hall

City Hall will continue to operate as normal (M-F, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.) We encourage customers who normally pay their water bill in person to take advantage of the opportunity to pay online on the city website, call in your payment here at City Hall, use the drop box outside City Hall, or pay by mailing your check to:

City of Mountain Home

P.O. Box 10

160 South 3rd East

Mountain Home, ID 83647

City Council meetings will continue on the normal schedule of the second and fourth Monday of each month at 6 p.m. While residents are always encouraged to participate in person, we want to remind everyone that meetings can be viewed live on the City’s Facebook page. Comments for public hearings can be dropped in the drop box outside City Hall, emailed to npatterson@mountain-home.us, or mailed to City Hall and will still be taken into the same consideration as any in-person statement.

Public Works

The public utilities in the City will run as normal. Our water and wastewater operators are committed to making sure that services are not disrupted in this time of general public concern. The citizens of Mountain Home can be reassured that they will have safe, clean water to drink and use and that it will continue to be treated at our wastewater facility.

The Water Department currently has had five (5) wells in operation during the winter months. Three (3) of those wells have generators in case of power failures to keep the supply of water to the city. The City also has over five million (5,000,000) gallons of storage capacity. As the weather continues to get nicer, the City’s other four (4) wells will be brought online to supply water for consumption and irrigation during the spring and summer.

The Wastewater Department is asking citizens not to flush anything other than toilet paper, because anything else can get caught in your wastewater service and back up into you home. The operators monitor flows in the wastewater mains to ensure it gets to the headworks for treatment.

The Street Department will continue operations as normal. The street sweepers will continue normal routes and road maintenance will continue as planned.

Development Services

Development Services will continue to operate on our normal schedule (M-F, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.).

Inspections can be scheduled by phone by calling (208) 580-2091.

All permit applications are available online at https://www.mountain-home.us/development-services-department/#resources. Applications can be printed, filled out, scanned and emailed to Brenda Ellis at bellis@mountain-home.us.

Economic Development

The Economic Development Office is working closely with government and local economic development agencies and resources to provide assistance to business owners.

Additional information is expected soon from the Small Business Association about available disaster assistance in response to economic impacts of coronavirus. We will provide updates on the city website, social media pages and via our business list.

We are compiling a COVID-19 Business Toolkit with resources and suggestions on how to remain resilient and agile during the coming weeks.

We are also working to reschedule in-person small business training opportunities and provide this training online during the social distancing period.

Mountain Home Police Department

Due to the fact that the Mountain Home School District has suspended school and school activities, effective March 17, 2020, the School Resource Officers will be transferred to a patrol shift.

Uniformed Patrol Officers will be assigned to close patrol local retail establishments immediately preceding and following opening times as well as, in some cases, closing times to increase presence and deter criminal activity.

The Mountain Home Police Department will be accepting telephone reports from those members of the public that prefer not to have personal contact with the officers. A non-emergency police report hotline is being established with a voice mailbox that will be monitored by patrol supervisors. Details on the telephone number and extension should be available March 17, 2020.

Mountain Home Fire Department

Mountain Home Fire Department will limit in-person training or meetings to those essential for safe and effective operations.

We encourage those seeking burn permits to complete the process online. Required permit forms and instructions can be found on the fire department’s page of the City website.

General precautions will include frequent cleaning and disinfecting of often-touched surfaces in the department, maintaining the recommended six-foot distance when interacting with people, and recommending that any firefighter or staff member experiencing any illness remain at home.

Individual firefighter precautions will include:

Disinfecting SCBA masks after every use

Use of respiratory masks whenever necessary

Regular cleaning/decontamination of all personal protective equipment (PPE)

Limiting the number of firefighters entering any area that may be infected

Mountain Home Public Library

The library will be closed March 16, 2020, through April 6.

All library programming is suspended through April 6.

Parks and Recreation

Recreation: Recreation will be postponing or canceling all programming and activities until the week of March 30th. At that time we will review the situation to determine if further extension is needed.

Spring Soccer league is postponed until the week of March 30th (No refunds will be issued at this time).

2020 Spring Break is canceled (Refunds will be issued).

Discovery is postponed until the week of March 30th (No refunds will be issued at this time).

The Recreation Activity Center has been closed to the public as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The Parks & Recreation office may be closed to the public in the near. future. Our staff will continue to work regular hours to assist citizens by phone or online.

Parks:

Staff have stepped up cleaning and sanitizing at all facilities.

We encourage all citizens to avoid any unnecessary touch points (e.g., benches, picnic tables, and playgrounds).

We are actively monitoring the situation with city partners and adjust our efforts as required.