Hempfield supervisors ask Gov. Wolf to end phased plan and reopen economy

Hempfield supervisors are asking Gov. Tom Wolf to allow the township to reopen without mandated restrictions put into place because of the coronavirus pandemic.

On Tuesday, supervisors voted unanimously to send a letter asking Wolf to lift restrictions put in place in March. Supervisor Tom Logan was not present at the public meeting.

“I’m probably as confused as everybody else in the community with what he’s attempting to do,” said Supervisor Doug Weimer, who proposed the motion. “We are a large municipality with a large business district.”

Retail stores along Hempfield’s Route 30 corridor have sat empty since Wolf ordered all non-life-sustaining businesses to close, including Westmoreland Mall.

Restaurants across the state have only been permitted to open for take-out and curbside pickup orders.

Weimer’s original proposal was to ask Wolf to move the township into the green phase, which allows businesses operating at 50% capacity under the yellow phase to expand service to 75% of capacity. It does not, however, permit bars and restaurants, personal care facilities and gyms to open beyond 50% capacity.

On Friday, 18 counties, most in the northern region of the state, will to move to the green phase.

Allegheny and Westmoreland counties moved to the yellow phase on May 15, lifting some of the strictest measure put in place including stay-at-home orders. Westmoreland has had 442 confirmed covid-19 cases, state data shows, and 38 deaths.

Still, Supervisor John Silvis suggested asking Wolf to completely open up the township.

“I think he should open it up completely,” Silvis said. “To heck with the red, yellow, green.”

Supervisor Rob Ritson agreed, adding, “I don’t think we should say, ‘take us to green.’ I think we should say, ‘let us open up.’ We’re adults we can take care of ourselves, we know what the CDC guidelines are. … Let’s just go big.”

This is not the first letter local officials have sent to Wolf, asking him to ease restrictions.

This month, several top elected Westmoreland County officials asked Wolf to allow businesses to reopen that are not currently permitted to operate under the yellow phase, including hair salons and restaurants.

The letter was signed by six Republican state representatives— Bob Brooks, Eric Davanzo, George Dunbar, Eric Nelson, Reese and Ryan Warner — and Democratic state Rep. Joe Petrarca; Republican state Sens. Joe Pittman, Pat Stefano and Kim Ward; and the three Westmoreland County commissioners, Republicans Doug Chew and Sean Kertes and Democrat Gina Cerilli.

Prior to Allegheny and Westmoreland counties moving to the yellow phase, local leaders pleaded with Wolf to lift restrictions and questioned why the counties were not included in the first round of counties permitted to reopen.

At the time, 37 county commissioners and state lawmakers representing nine counties convened to discuss ways to persuade Wolf.

It is not clear when Allegheny and Westmoreland counties could be permitted to enter the green phase.

“Hopefully that is the beginning of the end of this,” Weimer said of the correspondence.