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Meals are being provided to children throughout Pott. County in response to COVID-19 outbreak
By KMAN Staff on March 20, 2020 Local News, Pottawatomie County
Pottawatomie County Commissioner Pat Weixelman gave updates during a meeting Friday on meal services being provided to children in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
He says the Wamego City Park location had initially averaged around 180 meals per day.
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Wamego USD 320 Food Service Director Laura Fails says that number has increased dramatically as they are now serving roughly 900 meals per day. That location runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and serves breakfast and lunch.
Other locations serving meals to children include the Louisville baseball field from 11:30 am to 12:30 p.m. and St. George Elementary School and Westmoreland Elementary School beginning at 11:30 a.m..
The St. George Elementary School and Westmoreland Elementary School locations serve two meals on Thursday, with one being for Friday.
Meals can be home delivered for those who live out in the county.
How federal legislation benefits can Pottawatomie County employees
Pottawatomie County Human Resources Director Crystal Malchose updated county commissioners Friday on how county employees can benefit financially from federal laws recently enacted in response to COVID-19.
She says the Families First Coronavirus Response Act allows certain employees to be paid at least two-thirds of their regular rate for up to 10 weeks if they can't work due to the virus.
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Situations covered may include needing to care for children whose school or daycare has closed, seeking treatment or having to live in isolation.
While this law doesn't pay for the first 10 days of being out of work, Malchose says another law known as the Emergency Sick Leave Act could activate benefits right away.
These laws won't going into effect until April 2nd, but Malchose says employees can partake in shared leave in the meantime.
Restrictions on unemployment benefits have also been loosened. For more info on this, visit getkansasbenefits.gov.
The commission will hold their weekly meeting on Monday at 8:30 a.m. at the Sunflower Room in Westmoreland via Zoom video conference call.
Meeting items will include a discussion over employee payment policies regarding COVID-19 and a bid opening for the US-24 Highway and Green Valley Road intersection improvement project.
Instructions for how to access the meeting can be found at pottcounty.org.