COVID-19 Playbook

A Framework for State and Local Government Restoration and ReopeningJune 2020

Accela COVID-19 Playbook | June 2020

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Accela’s COVID-19 Playbook establishes a framework to help guide state and local government leaders, department

heads and taskforce members through the process of re-establishing services under the health and safety expectations

of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because every state, county and city is at a unique place in their reopening readiness plan,

the following considerations are intended as best-practice guideposts only. In all sections, given the fluidity of legislative

directives and the influence of citizen requests, we recommend you review frequently and revise plans put into place at

every phase of reopening. In a similar fashion, this framework will be updated monthly to be a lasting resource to you at

every step of your restoration.

Step 1: AssessIn an assessment phase, the key is to take stock of the current situation and all available resources. These assessments, ideally written-out for later reference, will instruct planning in Step 2. In addition to the internal resources, we recommend benchmarking against trade associations (e.g., National League of Cities, National Association of Counties, etc.) and regional counterparts.

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WORKSPACES

☐ Workspaces: Confirm individual workspaces and offices meet recommended distancing and barriers for a full workforce

☐ Common Spaces: Assess common areas such as break / lunchrooms for recommended distancing and barriers

☐ Public Spaces: Evaluate all public spaces (e.g., reception and public counters). Estimate number of customers that can be safely accommodated

☐ Building Operations: Confirm that building operations include cleaning and disinfection and that work crews have sufficient time to complete the task. Take a measure of what services they provide currently as well as what services they may be now newly offering

☐ Supplies: Update supplies on-hand inventories considering need for sanitizer, face masks and other consumables / disposables

☐ Personal Protective Equipment: Review inventory and distribution of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for workers (e.g., inspectors) who cannot accommodate recommended distancing

EMPLOYEES

☐ Availability: Confirm which employees are available to work and in what capacities, considering current and future illness / quarantine, childcare, workspaces, and public transportation

☐ Personnel Concerns: Take a measure of worker personal and professional concerns, perhaps by survey, online meeting, or individual conversations

☐ Training: Review employee training and professional development plans, predicting which scheduled events will be cancelled and which should be added (e.g., virtual events or new training topics)

☐ Accessibility: For employees with accessibility needs, confirm that proposed revisions to the office will be compatible and in-compliance

☐ Flexibility: With Human Resources and managers’ assistance, take stock of which employees can take-on new responsibilities, covering new functions and adjusting to rapidly changing expectations. For example, some employees may be better suited and trained to help a frustrated customer

☐ Continuing Education Requirements: Many opportunities for required CE have been cancelled. Assess remote education opportunities. Determine what, if any, CE requirements have been waived

☐ Enforcement Contributions: It is likely that field inspectors may be asked to also verify local requirements of permitted facilities / licensed businesses during inspections

☐ Public Health Contributors: Note that Environmental Health Departments’ employees may be called upon to assist in public-health outreach including help/advisory lines, testing centers, and assisting policymakers

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TECHNOLOGY

☐ Website: With Information Technology (IT), commission a review to be certain that the agency’s website is easily updated on a moment’s notice and that those with the training and access are equally available. Ask what in-person or phone-based transactions can be added to the website (e.g., public records requests, new applications, appointment scheduling, status checks, and more)

☐ Touchless Payments: With Information Technology, request what options are available to embrace payments which do not require a physical check or touching / exchanging a physical credit card. Online (web-based) payments are an obvious next step, but also consider tap and pay systems at the point-of-sale

☐ Virtual Inspections: With Information Technology, ask what barriers they can remove to avoid in-person inspections and travel (where appropriate) by using Virtual Inspections

☐ Remote Meetings: With Information Technology, request access to the systems and services which will promote remote / virtual meetings. These often include services such as Zoom, WebEx, GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams, and others. Also consider that these services may be extremely valuable for meeting withcustomers (e.g., virtual consultation services) and with others outside the department

☐ Work-From-Home: With Information Technology, account for the technical capabilities for workers which will continue to work from home offices and remote locations. Can remote workers have all the equipment they need to securely access departmental resources such as file servers, cloud services, printers, databases, etc.?

BUDGET

☐ Required Revisions: Almost all departments have been asked to contemplate revised budgets. Be sure to consider worst, expected, and best-case scenarios taking into account both the revenue and expenses under COVID-19

☐ Project Priority: The COVID-19 pandemic response certainly impacts project priority. Use this task to review the project backlog and review the new priority of each

☐ Services Prioritization: Review all the services offered prior to the COVID-19 response. Contemplate which services are “must-have” and which are critical to a rapid reopening of businesses. Other services may need to be suspended or modified

☐ Access to Stimulus and Other Funding Sources: Federal and State stimulus packages has funding earmarked for most areas of government. Work with your leadership to ensure funding that is directly – or indirectly – available to your agency is part of the plan. Beware of spending category restrictions

CUSTOMERS

☐ Safety: Unique to locality, customers expect your agency to 1) set a perfect example; and 2) respect and respond to customers’ expectations for their own health and safety. Take a moment to consider and write-down what your customers expect of your department

☐ Available Services: It may not be possible to continue to provide all services in the traditional form. These adjustments will be disruptive to some customers. Use a survey (formal or informal) and historical data to register how customers prioritize services, hours of operation, and processing time

Step 2: Plan and DocumentPutting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) is a documented best practice for surfacing and remembering objectives. It won’t come all at once and one plan may cause another to be modified over several iterations. Uncertainty makes it difficult to plan beyond the current horizon. For longer-range objectives and assumptions, leave placeholder sections and high-level notes to be refined in the future.

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NECESSARY EQUIPMENT AND CONSUMABLES

☐ Order Forms: Update order / inventory thresholds to include necessary supplies such as PPE and sanitizer

☐ Order Office Modifications: As is necessary, request required modifications to work and public spaces. This may include barriers, customer routing, re-arranging desks, etc.

WORK SCHEDULES

☐ Schedules: Publish a 15-day provisional schedule. Plan to review / revise weekly according to changing dynamics

UPDATES TO SERVICES AND NEEDS

☐ Provisional Services: Publish a 30-day provisional schedule showing locations, hours, and services. Review weekly

☐ Vacancies: Experts anticipate an unbearable number of business failures. As such, expect a high number of commercial space vacancy. This will particularly impact Fire Departments and Code Enforcement departments

TRAINING NEEDS

☐ Revised Policies: Schedule and repeat training meetings with staff to review updated policies. Be open to iterative improvements. Front-line staff will have great ideas about how best to improve

☐ PPE Procedures (If Applicable): Schedule and document training events designed to build confidence in proper use

☐ Technology: To the extent applicable, build the schedule to distribute resources related to technology changes such as laptops, home WiFi, VPNs, security, and technology policies

☐ Communications Plan: If one doesn’t already exist, it’s time to capture a communications plan that covers both inward, outward, and upward communications channels and cycles. Make somebody responsible for each and ensure that the plan is followed / updated

PLAN FOR THE UNEXPECTED

☐ Resurgence or “Second Wave”: Although current policies are intended to prevent a resurgence, outline what actions would be required. Very likely, these would include reverting to previous policies (check your calendar)

☐ Extreme Budget Shortfalls: In this exercise, leaders prepare contingencies for another worst-case scenario. Document just the absolute essential set of services and personnel, measuring against what is required by law / regulation (which too may be subject to temporary modification)

☐ Budget Windfall: Prepare also for the likelihood that the plans compiled today do not account for some future fortune. In such cases, be ready to campaign to restore services and, perhaps, staff

Step 3: CommunicateThe assessments, plans, and documents crafted by now set the stage for communication, an often-underrated investment. Take whatever amount of communication that feels right and double it! You and your stakeholders will benefit greatly.

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INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS

☐ Channels: Plan on which channels will be used to communicate internally (e.g., in-person, remote meetings, emails). Fewer is better and self-documenting /searchable is ideal, such as email

☐ Work Schedules: According to the Communications Plan and Worker Scheduling Assessment, be certain that employees are confident about the when, where, and what of their daily responsibilities. An internal website is helpful here

☐ Revised Policies: With policies and procedures changing regularly (and not always convenient to meetings), specify a single source of truth about current policies and practices. An internal website can be a great repository for this information

☐ Available Resources: Within the department and across your city, county, and state, help identify and share resources staff can leverage if needed, which should include elements of family, professional, financial, and mental health support

PUBLIC-FACING COMMUNICATIONS

☐ Channels: According to the Communications Plan, determine which channels will be used to communicate externally. Social media, broadcast email, website updates, and local media all play a role

☐ Services / Hours: According to the Plan, send regular communications to your customer public. This is the right time to introduce customers to digital transactions through recorded and written instructions

UPSTREAM COMMUNICATIONS

☐ Leading Up: As appropriate (and represented in your Communications Plan), make predictable consistent reports to City, County, State authorities about reopening progress, challenges, initiatives purposefully put on hold, new initiatives (emphasizing those that support leadership’s emphases – like reopening businesses). Coordinate with city-wide / county-wide communications efforts

Step 4: Execute to PlanIt is in the execution that plans become reality. This section is a reminder that the plans require action and resources to be of benefit. In this section, consider a theme to surround the action. An immediate need is to safely reenergize our economy. An apt metaphor is carefully turning a dial, moving purposefully from where we are to where we want to be.

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SET THE EXPECTATION: WE’RE ACCELERATING

☐ Safely Reopen: Contributing to the safe reopening of your community’s economic activities should be among the department’s top priorities. Streamline what can be streamlined effectively. Consider waiving penalties, discounting / waiving fees, and extending deadlines. In the case of Occupational Licensing, determine a realistic update to Continuing Educational requirements

ACCELERATION WITH TECHNOLOGY

☐ Work-from-Home: If a portion of the staff still (or may need to work remotely), work with Information Technology to insist upon the ideal setup. Effective remote workers have high-end equipment including a laptop, VPN, internet, telephony, chat, email, file storage, document management systems, database, and training as needed

☐ Field Inspectors: Each inspection event may be categorized by its risk, necessity, and value. Some inspection activities may be waived or deferred. Many others may be conducted remotely using modern technologies similar to a remote meeting. Yet, necessarily, some field work must continue, and those workers should be 1) protected; and 2) enabled with state-of-the-art tablet computers and connectivity wherever possible

☐ Eliminate Office Visits: As a safety protocol for customers and employees, make all transactions available on the web. These include new applications, complaints, general inqui-ries, public records requests, payments, and printed docu-ments (e.g., receipts, licenses, permits and inspections)

☐ Tap to Pay / Touchless Transactions: It’s appropriate to promote policy which avoids handling cash, checks, and credit cards. Engage your vendors to install the systems which avoid physical payments. Online / web-based payments should be the norm

☐ Communications: Shore up telephony, online meetings, security, broadcast email, and all related technology

☐ Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence: Chatbots are among the most popular entry-points to Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Related technology can serve customers rapidly and reduce repetitive tasks for staff

Step 5: Monitor and Revise PlansWhile most strategic plans might be updated quarterly or annually, these plans demand frequent review. The cadence for review should be reflected in the agility of the organization.

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EMERGENCY ORDERS, LOCAL, STATE, AND FEDERAL GUIDANCE

☐ Monitor for Changes: On a seven-day cycle (minimum) confirm and abide by changes to public health and gov-ernment orders. Consider a site like nga.org/coronavirus, your state’s COVID-19 response page, and Google Alerts in order to stay abreast of rapid changes

EMPLOYEE POLICY

☐ Iterate Employee Policy: In light of changes identified above and in coordination with your agency and neighboring departments, revise and publish updated policies to include:

• Definition of “Essential” • Social Distancing with Co-Workers / Customers / During

Inspection Activities • Temperature Check for Employees • Mask Requirements • COVID-19 Testing for Employees • Work-From-Home • Training Requirements • Symptoms

PROCEDURES

☐ Iterate Procedural Policy: In light of changes identified above and in coordination with your agency and neighboring departments, revise and publish updated policies to include:

• Social Distancing • Inspection Activities • Review and Revise Weekly

TECHNOLOGY

☐ Cloud Strategy: As cloud adoption increases and business units become more confident, revisit the backlog of systems earmarked for cloud. Reprioritize regularly Consider moving from a capex to an opex model for lasting solutions

☐ Security: Review and update security services and software. Refresh training to keep up with the latest threats

Accela COVID-19 Resources for Government

OTHER RESOURCES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Reopening Guidance for Cleaning and Disinfecting Public Spaces, Workplaces, Businesses, Schools, and Homes

National Association of Counties (NASCo): COVID-19 Pandemic County Response Efforts & Priorities

National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO): COVID-19 Planning and Response Guidance for State CIOs

National League of Cities (CDC): COVID-19 Response Resources for Local Leaders

US Conference of Mayors (USCM): COVID-19 What Mayors Need to Know

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