NASHVILLE - The Tennessee General Assembly's home in a massive, 11-story office building located in downtown Nashville is scheduled to reopen Monday for the first time since March 23, when the building closed amid concerns over the growing coronavirus pandemic.
Visitors, including lobbyists and constituents, will be allowed in only by appointment and escorted to offices of the 132 senators and representatives.
Moreover, the building will be cleaned on "an on-going basis following guidelines and products recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," wrote Connie Ridley, director of legislative administration, in an email to the nearly 350 staffers ranging from executive assistants to the House and Senate clerks.
"This includes common areas and office suites and air processing systems," wrote Ridley, who also noted that social distancing, face masks and other measures will be required.
But that hasn't completely allayed the concerns of some legislative staffers who work in the building.
They privately harbor health safety concerns, including potential overcrowding of Cordell Hull elevators as well as the employees' parking garage. Another concern: narrow stairwells in both buildings.
For weeks, staffers have been working from home, as are an estimated 23,000 employees in Gov. Bill Lee's administration. Those executive branch employees are expected to continue working at home even as the governor moves to reopen many shuttered state businesses.
That's also aggravating some legislative staffers. Still, thousands of other executive branch employees working in areas ranging from prison to mental health institutes and occupations such as health and safety inspectors are required to continue to show up physically for work.
The third branch of Tennessee government, the judicial branch, is able to perform scaled-down work, including holding hearings, remotely.
Tennessee legislators, meanwhile, who abruptly recessed their session on March 19, are scheduled to return June 1. There's talk that legislative committees may crank up in late May.
In her directions, Director Ridley laid out these new rules:
- Maintain 6-foot physical distancing.
- Wear a cloth mask or facial covering while in common areas and around other people in the facility. A "simple scarf or bandana to cover your nose and mouth is sufficient," Ridley's email says. "If you need a mask, please let me know and we will provide one."
- While in their individual member's office suite, staffers are instructed to keep the "door shut. Guests should remain in hallways and common areas until the time of scheduled appointments."
- Avoid gathering in groups.
- Cover "your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze using a tissue if possible."
- Wash hands with soap and water or hand sanitizer often.
- Avoid touching your face.
"If you are at home or at work and become ill with symptoms including fever, cough or shortness of breath, remain at home or leave the facility immediately and remain at home until you are free of fever and other symptoms without using fever-reducing medicine for at least 24 hours," Ridley wrote.
Asked about staffers' concerns, Ridley provided the Times Free Press with the directives for staffers.
But in a previous email to legislative employees said to have been prompted by concerns voiced by some staffers, Ridley noted that under Congress' Families First Coronavirus Response Act, "you may have paid leave options under certain circumstances related to the COVID 19 pandemic" and outlined them in some detail.
Moreover, Ridley added in the second email, "staff who are age 60 or older or who have a serious chronic medical condition may work remotely and are not required to report to the office until further notice.
"Please let me know if you are in one of the risk categories and plan to work remotely. We need only to know that you will not be reporting to the office," Ridley said.
Asked on Wednesday about his own policies in comparison to the General Assembly's, Lee said the "legislature will make their own decisions about which employees it deems necessary to be in certain working circumstance. That's how all businesses and all entities will operate.
"For those who may believe it's necessary to be onsite for work, then we encourage them to do that in a way that practices social distancing and provides for a safe workplace, and that's what we'll be doing at the state as well," the governor said.
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @AndySher1.