ITHACA, N.Y. (WHCU) – Cortland County officials are alerting businesses as to reopening phases set to begin Friday.
Phase one opening includes construction, manufacturing, retail for curbside and delivery services, wholesale trade, as well as agricultural industries. Legislature Chairman Paul Heider says he’s confident the county will meet all benchmarks set forth by the state.
He’s asking reopening businesses to be vigilant as to the health of employees and customers, make changes in operations as necessary, and to screen individuals’ employees’ health when appropriate.
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Cortland County Businesses to Start Phased Re-opening Friday
Cortland NY- Cortland County is joining with its regional partners in Central New York to begin a calculated and
phased approach to restarting business idled by the COVID pandemic.
“I am excited to announce that Cortland County businesses included in the phase 1 regional re-start plan will be
eligible to resume operations this Friday, May 15th,” Cortland County Legislature Chairman Paul Heider said today.
Cortland County has partnered with Onondaga, Oswego, Cayuga, and Madison counties to develop a plan to restart business and commerce here in the Central New York region. The County has been actively working on this
plan for the past few weeks and those efforts have resulted in a plan that provides for a safe and thoughtful process
to begin re-opening of businesses both large and small.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Health officials have established certain metrics that regional
economies must meet before implementing a phased re-start. Chairman Heider says, “I am confident that by this
Friday we will have hit these benchmarks. “The loosening of restrictions in New York will be considered based on
the following criteria;
• The infection rate is sufficiently low;
• The health care system has the capacity to absorb a potential resurgence in new cases;
• Diagnostic testing capacity is sufficiently high to detect and isolate new cases; and
• Robust contact-tracing capacity is in place to help prevent the spread of the virus.
The Cortland County Business Development Corporation and the Cortland County Chamber of Commerce are
assisting locally in the reopening process.
“The regional restart continues to build on the established partnerships among our Central New York counties and
economic development agencies,” said BDC Executive Director Garry VanGorder. “We will be working closely
with Bob Haight and his team at the Chamber to get important information out to the business community as the
restart rolls on. There is a lot to absorb and we want to provide them with the best information possible.”
“The Chamber of Commerce along with the BDC has been assisting all local businesses with information and
planning during the pandemic and we’ll continue to work with them during their specific planning for reopening
during all phases. We’re pleased to work with all our CNY Community partners to safely get our businesses up and
running again.” Stated Chamber President Bob Haight.
CORTLAND COUNTY
60 Central Avenue
Cortland NY 13045
Paul Heider Eric Mulvihill
Chair, Cortland County Legislature Clerk of the Legislature
The Cortland County website (www.cortland-co.org) now includes a section that features information about the
phased re-start. The plan is outlined below. It is expected that each phase will be buffered by a two-week
monitoring window, with the potential to pause the restart if case numbers rise significantly:
Phase One
• Construction
Building Equipment Contractors
Building Finishing Contractors
Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors
Highway, Street and Bridge Construction
Land Subdivision
Nonresidential Building Construction
Residential Building Construction
Utility System Construction
• Manufacturing
Apparel Manufacturing
Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing
Electric Lighting Equipment Manufacturing
Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing
Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing
Leather and Allied Product Manufacturing
Machinery Manufacturing
Paper Manufacturing
Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing
Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing
Printing and Related Support Activities
Textile Mills
CORTLAND COUNTY
60 Central Avenue
Cortland NY 13045
Paul Heider Eric Mulvihill
Chair, Cortland County Legislature Clerk of the Legislature
Textile Product Mills
Wood Product Manufacturing
Other Miscellaneous Manufacturing
• Retail – Delivery and Curbside Pickup
Clothing Stores
Direct Selling Establishments
Electronics and Appliance Stores
Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses
Furniture and Home Furnishing Stores
Florists
General Merchandise Stores
Health and Personal Care Stores
Jewelry, Luggage, and Leather Goods Stores
Lawn and Garden Equipment and Supplies Stores
Office Supplies, Stationery, and Gift Stores
Used Merchandise Stores
Shoe Stores
Sporting Goods, Hobby, Musical Instrument and Book Stores
Other Miscellaneous Store Retailers
• Wholesale Trade
Apparel, Piece Goods, and Notions Merchant Wholesalers
Chemical and Allied Products Merchant Wholesalers
Furniture and Home Furnishing Merchant Wholesalers
Household Appliances and Electrical and Electronic Goods Merchant Wholesalers
Machinery, Equipment, and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
Metal and Mineral (except Petroleum) Merchant Wholesalers
Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers
CORTLAND COUNTY
60 Central Avenue
Cortland NY 13045
Paul Heider Eric Mulvihill
Chair, Cortland County Legislature Clerk of the Legislature
Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
Wholesale Electronic Markets and Agents and Brokers
Miscellaneous Durable Goods Merchant Wholesalers
Miscellaneous Nondurable Goods Merchant Wholesalers
• Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting
Greenhouse, Nursery, and Floriculture Production
Other Animal Production
Other Crop Production
Support Activities for Animal Production
Support Activities for Crop Production
Support Activities for Forestry
Phase Two (tentative late May/early June)
• Professional Services
• Retail
• Administrative Support
• Real Estate / Rental & Leasing
Phase Three (tentative mid-June)
• Restaurants / Food Services
Phase Four (tentative late June early July)
• Arts / Entertainment / Recreation
• Education
Each business and industry must have a plan to protect employees and consumers, make the physical workspace
safer, and implement processes that lower the risk of infection in the business. The Chamber and the BDC will
work to communicate planning guidance. Each business is responsible for implementing its own plan based upon
that guidance or industry best practices.
CORTLAND COUNTY
60 Central Avenue
Cortland NY 13045
Paul Heider Eric Mulvihill
Chair, Cortland County Legislature Clerk of the Legislature
In developing these plans, businesses will need to consider three main factors.
• The first factor is protections for employees and customers. These include possible adjustments to workplace
hours and shift design as necessary to reduce density in the workplace; enacting social distancing protocols, and
restricting non-essential travel for employees.
• The second is changes to the physical workspace, including requiring all employees and customers to wear
masks if in frequent close contact with others and implementing strict cleaning and sanitation standards.
• The last factor for businesses to consider is implementing processes that meet our changing public health
obligations, like screening individuals when they enter the workplace, or reporting confirmed positives to
customers. While these processes wil
