Office of the Mayor
Michele Lee
UPDATE – April 7, 2020
44,416 positive tests Statewide, 1,232 COVID-19 related deaths.
Hunterdon County has 236 confirmed positives, with 3 COVID-19 related deaths. Still no word on a testing facility in our County.
As of yesterday April 6th, we have 7 cases here in High Bridge.
My thoughts go out to these families, and all those around NJ and the Country dealing with this illness and/or the loss of loved ones.
Governor Murphy today signed multiple Executive Orders, including extending the public health emergency by another 30 days, closing all schools indefinitely, and the closing all state and county parks. This last order was largely due to groups not following social distancing requirements.
As of this writing, we have not received word from the County on whether they intend to close the Columbia Trail. We will continue monitoring the situation and address issues that may arise from crowds and social distancing both on the trail and in the Commons lot.
Regarding the Borough parks, at least for today, we will keep them open for passive recreational activities. This means you must keep moving! No groups or picnics or congregating of any kind. My ultimate fear is that as parks around the state close, we will see a greater use of our own parks, and the same social distancing violations will occur here. If that does happen, I will not hesitate to close all of them.
It is up to each one of us to make sure that social distancing rules are upheld if we want to keep our parks open. If you see something which violates the rules, call the police for enforcement. They will continue to patrol all public areas.
On a side note, please clean up after your dog!! Whether on the trail, in the park or walking on the street, please bring a baggie with you and keep it with you to properly dispose of. It is really upsetting that we are seeing an increase in poop, plastic bags and disposable gloves on the ground in the public areas of our beautiful Borough. There are many receptacles around… use them!
As a reminder, our Council meeting normally held on Thursday nights will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, at 7:30p via WebEx. Another update will take place at the beginning of the meeting with information provided by both the County and State during our weekly Mayor’s call scheduled for tomorrow.
Agenda can be found on the Borough website, login instructions below:
Meeting link:
https://meetingsamer4.webex.com/meetingsamer4/j.php?MTID=me708bf0b0983f74dce1f1085750eb1c7
Meeting number:
628 230 779
Password:
1212
More ways to join:
Join by video system
Dial 628230779@meetingsamer4.webex.com
You can also dial 173.243.2.68 and enter your meeting number.
Join by phone:
+1-408-418-9388 United States Toll
+1-646-992-2010 United States Toll (New York City)
Access code: 628 230 779