OGDENSBURG – Ogdensburg City Manager Sarah Purdy will be giving daily updates regarding the city’s response to the COVID-19 and the status of various operations.

The March 23 update follows:

As our community adjusts to new patterns in our daily lives, the City wants to assure our residents that we are open for business even though the doors of City Hall are closed. This is the first of what I hope will be daily updates Monday through Friday on our activities.

Staffing at City Hall has been modified in compliance with Governor Cuomo’s executive orders, but employees are still present 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you need to reach any of the City Hall departments, please call 315-393-6100 and listen to the directory of available options. If your call goes to voicemail please leave a message and we will call you back. As an alternative, you can go to the staff directory on the City’s website and click on the email box to leave an email message for any of us.

Our City Departments continue to work with County and community agencies to stay current with new COVID-19 coronavirus information, with Executive Orders coming from New York State, with local needs, and with inter-agency communications. We are making sure we still provide City services but with heightened safety and health precautions.

Today our City reached out to Claxton-Hepburn Hospital to offer Lockwood Arena, which is currently closed, as additional space should the hospital need to reallocate its own space to accommodate more beds. We also have offered to lend staff for background coordinating work if needed, and we are on standby prepared to help.

People have been asking us how to pay utility bills and conduct other transactions with the Comptroller’s Office when City Hall is closed. Online is the easiest, at Xpress-pay.com, which offers e-check and credit/debit card options. You can find Xpress-pay.com by going to the City website and clicking on “pay my bill.” Xpress-pay.com does charge a transaction fee; it is not a fee the City charges. Bills also can be mailed to the City Comptroller at 330 Ford Street; just make sure you indicate what bill is being paid and for what address.

We are also working on setting up a more interactive way to virtually attend our public meetings. We do have a solution and will get it up and running as soon as we can.