DAPHNE – The Daphne City Hall has reopened to the public more than eight months after being closed at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Robin LeJeune said Monday, Jan. 4.
LeJeune said the facility was reopened after renovations to reduce the exposure of employees and City Hall visitors to the coronavirus.
“We have done some construction over the last few months,” LeJeune said at the Jan. 4 City Council meeting. “It’s taken a little longer than we expected, but we are back open at City Hall today, so we excited to see that. We do require masks and social distancing, but please be welcomed to come back into City Hall and see the new construction.”
Daphne closed City Hall at the close of the business day on March 20. Since then residents have done business with the city online or by dropping off payments at a drop box at City Hall.
LeJeune said that while City Hall has reopened, COVID-19 continues to be a major problem in Baldwin County.
“In the last 14 days, we’re up 2,239 new cases with 122 deaths,” LeJeune said. “Thomas Hospital has 15 positive cases in the hospital, 10 in ICU and two on ventilators. As you know, the vaccine has started coming out in Baldwin County. They were given 10,000 vaccinations and 47 percent of those have been given out, which is about 6,000 to 7,000. They’ve moved to now all our first-responders are eligible for vaccination. We do have some that have already taken it and we compiling a list for y’all to see what percentage of our first responders is going to take that.”
