Photo courtesy of Lance Shores
Frank Brocato 2018
Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato
As I write this message, I sincerely hope you and your family are healthy, safe and secure. Truly, we are living through an unprecedented time, and I often think of you— our residents and business owners — who have come together to help our city in its time of need. More than anything, it is your compassion and determination that make our city special.
The city’s efforts to combat the new coronavirus began in early March as I met with our city administrator, finance team and public safety leaders to develop a financial and public health response to the situation. At that time, we had no idea we would be where we are today. However, I believe because of our early intervention, we were able to be ahead of the curve once things hit hard.
Early on, we activated our Emergency Operations Center, operating under the National Incident Management System, and we developed four main objectives: 1) continue essential city operations; 2) support public health emergency measures; 3) provide effective communications; and 4) maintain financial stability.
With those goals in mind, we created several resources to help the community, like the Hoover Helpline and the Business Resource Assistance line. Along the way, it was important that we collaborated with our City Council to make sure everyone was involved.
We also looked to help our school system in various ways, knowing they, too, faced new challenges. We joined forces with Hoover City Schools, Hoover Helps and Neighborhood Bridges as they helped make sure our children remained fed during this time. In addition, we asked Hoover businesses to open their WiFi so students could use it to complete their studies.
We were successful in receiving the personal protection equipment our first responders needed. Over the past few weeks, I have called and visited many of the businesses in our community to let them know they are not alone in this.
Because of printing deadlines, I am writing this article on April 20. At this time, the big question is how and when will our state reopen? Please know we are working with Gov. Ivey and our federal, state and local health officials to get businesses back open as soon as we can. I hope as you are reading this today, some of those plans are moving in the right direction.
As we continue to diligently practice social distancing and good hygiene efforts, please know the city of Hoover is working around the clock to keep both our economy and community healthy.
