October 22, 2020 Update

Greetings from sunny St. George.  I am attending a two day, socially distanced and masked conference with the Utah City Management Association.  I hope your day is going well.  When I get back home Friday afternoon, I am looking forward to another fun BYU football game Saturday evening - hopefully one of the highlights of the weekend!  

CORONAVIRUS STATS

Nationally, the CDC reports 8,312,667 cases with 221,438 fatalities.

Utah:  99,549 cases (up 1,543 from yesterday); 4,880 hospitalizations; 563 deaths (up 6 from yesterday)

Utah County:  26,429 cases (up 362 from yesterday); 898 hospitalizations; 77 deaths (up 2 from yesterday)

NEWS YOU CAN USE

•  The Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission has released information on the nearly 60 judges on the Utah ballot in order to help citizens make more informed decisions. This is an independent state panel that evaluates judges in an effort to help voters. 
• NASA has successfully collected samples from the Bennu asteroid, floating 207 million miles away from earth. They are expecting the spacecraft to return in 2023 and land in Utah's West Desert. USU's own Space Dynamics Laboratory helped to build 3 cameras involved in the mission. 
• The Covey Center has begun their production of Sleepy Hollow, and they are ensuring all social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines are being met.

PROVO SOCIAL MEDIA

THE MAYOR'S DAY

Today, Mayor Kaufusi:

• Participated in Council Leadership Meeting
• Met with representatives from BYU
• Attended a meeting on the new City Center building
• Participated in a MAG Executive Council meeting

FUN STUFF

My grandson's favorite board game is the "Game of Life."   It is a game that I can take or leave, but if every Game of Life was like this one, I might be a little more interested in the next round.

Thanks to Studio C for another fun video sketch. And thanks to you for all you do for us and for the residents of Provo.  Have a great weekend!

Wayne

October 21, 2020 Update

Last evening, our Municipal Council repealed the City's ordinance requiring mask wearing, in large part because the state already had adopted a mask mandate by order of the State Health Department two weeks ago.  So, the requirement remains to wear masks indoor - pretty much at all times unless you are in a private office space - and outdoors when social distancing isn't possible.  Let's all stay safe and vigilant.  I am aware of several employees who have had positive tests in the last week, and others who spouses or children have tested positive and thus are in quarantine or working from home.  Take extra precautions to protect yourself, your family, and others around you!  

CORONAVIRUS STATS

Nationally, the CDC reports 8,249,011 cases with 220,362 fatalities.

Utah:  98,006 cases (up 1,363 from yesterday); 4,807 hospitalizations; 557 deaths (up 6 from yesterday)

Utah County:  26,067 cases (up 295 from yesterday); 886 hospitalizations; 75 deaths (up 1 from yesterday)

NEWS YOU CAN USE

• Looking for a fun way to volunteer? The Best Friends Kitten Care Center is looking for "Kitten First Responders" who can be trained to temporarily take baby kittens who need to be bottle fed.

• The Gubernatorial candidates for Utah's upcoming election have come together to release joint ads calling for civility during the elections.
• There are 12 individuals who have tested positive for Covid-19 at the Weber County Jail. All 12 of them had tested positive during the July outbreak among inmates. Jail officials said they are following guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and "treating these individuals as positive cases." However, jail officials said they believe it's likely these individuals are not contagious and the jail is not experiencing a new outbreak of the virus.
• The City Council has voted unanimously to repeal the mask mandate. Masks are still required in Provo under the governor's new 3-tiered system.

PROVO SOCIAL MEDIA

THE MAYOR'S DAY

Today, Mayor Kaufusi:

• Met with the City Ombudsman
• Held a meeting with the director of Public Works
• Participated in a meeting with Provo residents
• Met with an individual from HR
• Met about construction in Provo City

FUN STUFF

You gotta love Studio C!    Mallory has always been one of my favorites in the Studio C cast, and she gets to shine in this sketch that harks back to the Golden Age of Radio!

Thanks, everyone.  We look forward to connecting with you again tomorrow afternoon!

Wayne

October 20, 2020 Update

Happy Tuesday.  It is a City Council day which tends to result in lots of meeting time and discussion.  I think you know I have a ton of respect for our council members.  They have a tough job, and the issues don't seem to ever get easier.  

CORONAVIRUS STATS

Nationally, the CDC reports 8,188,585 cases with 219,499 fatalities.

Utah:  96,643 cases (up 1,081 from yesterday); 4,753 hospitalizations; 551 deaths (up 5 from yesterday)

Utah County:  25,772 cases (up 238 from yesterday); 874 hospitalizations; 74 deaths (up 1 from yesterday)

NEWS YOU CAN USE

• Intermountain Healthcare is hosting the 2020 Virtual Mental Health Services Awareness Night on Thursday.  It is open to anyone in Utah who wants to understand how to help those with mental health challenges. Those who want to participate in the free live-streamed meeting can register at utahvalleyhospital.org/mentalhealthnight. 
• A poll for the 4th Congressional District shows that the two candidates, Burgess Owens and Rep. Ben McAdams, are neck-in-neck, with a 1% difference between the two. Coincidently, that 1% is within the margin of error for the poll, making predictions a toss-up.
• Utah County voted yesterday to terminate their mask mandate, which went into place on September 22, 2020. The county is still required to wear masks under Governor Herbert's new 3 tier response system.

PROVO SOCIAL MEDIA

THE MAYOR'S DAY

Today, Mayor Kaufusi:

• Met with a representative from the Legal department 
• Held a meeting with the Deputy Mayor
• Participated in City Council Work Meeting
• Attended City Council meeting

FUN STUFF

A few of my favorite memes from this week - a couple were shared by my 13 year old grandson.

Thanks for all you do!

Wayne

October 19, 2020 Update

 I hope your weekend was awesome!  It was quiet at our house; had some family visiting from Vernal, and enjoyed spending time with our 5 year old and 2 year old grandkids.  Otherwise, we are just busy getting the home and yard ready for winter.  

CORONAVIRUS STATS

Nationally, the CDC reports 8,128,524 cases with 218,986 fatalities.

Utah:  95.562 cases;  4,688 hospitalizations; 546 deaths 

Utah County:  25,534 cases; 861 hospitalizations; 73 deaths (no change from yesterday)

NEWS YOU CAN USE

• BYU Football won a big game on Friday night and advanced in the Top 25 polls.  
• Early voting is underway in most states.  The total number of ballots cast early nationally is now just under 30 million.  
• The Range Fire at the mouth of Provo Canyon has kept our firefighter teams busy.  The fire was reportedly caused by an incident at the Orem police gun range.  

PROVO SOCIAL MEDIA

THE MAYOR'S DAY

Today, Mayor Kaufusi:

• Met with the Fire Chief
• Attended the weekly Coronavirus update with the Utah County Health Department and other mayors
• Attended Mayor's Office staff meeting
• Participated in the Utah League of Cities and Towns Board Meeting
• Attended the Utah League of Cities Legislative Policy Committee Meeting
• Prepared for tomorrow's city council meetings

FUN STUFF

A couple of Utah originals.  Imagine Dragons had their start in Provo, and "Believer" is one of their big hits that seems to transcend traditional music types.  The One Voice Children's Choir is a popular Utah tradition - they have performed at many of our Provo events over the years.  This cover of Believer by the Choir is a great listen if you enjoy either group.

Hope the rest of your day and evening is great!  Thanks for all you do to make Provo better.

Wayne

October 15, 2020 Update

Happy Thursday!  It is the end of the week for many of us; I for one am looking forward to having some time to regroup this weekend; and we may have a daughter and her kids here from out of town as well.  But they better not try to interrupt my plans for Friday night.  Go Cougs (the blue and white ones).

CORONAVIRUS STATS

Nationally, the CDC reports 7,894,768 cases with 216,025 fatalities.

Utah:  90,461 cases (up 1,498 from yesterday); 4,511 hospitalizations; 529 deaths (up 2 from yesterday)

Utah County: 24,279 cases (up 406 from yesterday); 819 hospitalizations; 67 deaths (no change from yesterday)

NEWS YOU CAN USE

• If you keep up with the news, there are many ads for the congressional campaign currently airing. While these are meant to persuade viewers in a certain direction, it's always good to fact-check them before basing your vote on one.
• US News ranked Utah as the #4 best state overall, based on several metrics including education, economy, healthcare, and others.
• A new fire has started in rural Kane County. While fire season is hopefully winding down, there are still several in our state and across the west.

PROVO SOCIAL MEDIA

THE MAYOR'S DAY

Today, Mayor Kaufusi:

• Held a meeting on the new state guidelines 
• Attended the Food and Care Coalition Groundbreaking
• Met with the Deputy Mayor
• Participated in a meeting regarding her Op Ed piece coming out
• Held a meeting on businesses in Provo
• Met with individuals from the Utah Chamber

FUN STUFF

Let's finish the day with a little classical number that will warm your heart for the weekend!

We appreciate you all!  Thanks for being a part of such an important endeavor.

Wayne

The 100th Update: October 14 2020

welcome to THE 100th update!

Well - today is a big day for a couple of reasons.  First and foremost, it is Mayor Kaufusi's birthday!   Congrats!

Second, today is the 100th edition of the Daily Update!  Hard to imagine that it has been that long.  Thanks to everyone for following along these last 6 months or so!  At the bottom of the post you will find an invite to come celebrate with us for a moment or two tomorrow afternoon!

For some fun reminiscing, here are the top 5 posts out of the first 100 Daily Updates:

5. April 9, 2020

4. April 14, 2020

3. April 8, 2020

2. April 6, 2020

1. April 1, 2020

CORONAVIRUS STATS

Nationally, the CDC reports 7,835,007 cases with 215,194 fatalities.

Utah:  88,963 cases (up 1,144 from yesterday); 4,460 hospitalizations; 527 deaths (up 5 from yesterday)

Utah County:  23,873 cases (up 249 from yesterday); 809 hospitalizations; 67 deaths (up 1 from yesterday)

NEWS YOU CAN USE

• Governor Herbert has established a new system for determining ways to combat the corona virus. He has created 3 categories based on a transmission index. The categories, or levels, are high, moderate, and low. The placements of a county into these categories is assessed weekly, with changes from the high category happening only after 2 weeks. Currently, Utah County is in the "high" index.
• Part of the changes from Governor Herbert include restrictions statewide. These changes included a mask requirement and a limit to social gatherings. The limit to gatherings doesn't not include formal religious services or organized events. However, for Utah County and others in the "high" category, social gatherings are limited to 10 people.
• There was a small snafu in the ballots that were sent to voters in Duchesne County. The registered Republican in the county received Democratic Party ballots and vice versa. This error is being fixed, but it seems like it was simply due to a miscommunication error.
• Eli Lily has also had to put their trial for antibody treatment for Covid-19 on hold due to a patient getting ill as well. While this is perfectly normal in clinical trials, this does push their timeline back as well. They have stated they will continue some of their other trials.

PROVO SOCIAL MEDIA

THE MAYOR'S DAY

Today, Mayor Kaufusi:

• Celebrated her birthday today!
• Participated in an Active Transportation Committee meeting
• Met with Office Staff
• Held a meeting on the CARES Act
• Participated in a meeting discussing procedures in the city
• Toured the Timpanogos Golf Club

FUN STUFF

The 100th update deserves some pomp and circumstance! So for my 100th Daily Update, I would like to celebrate with all of you by having you stop by the Council Chambers for a cookie tomorrow after 12:30 pm until they're gone!

In honor of the Mayor's Birthday..

Have a wonderful evening!  We will be back in touch tomorrow.

Wayne

October 13 2020 Update

Happy Tuesday everyone.  It has been a busy day again - meetings pretty much solid since 8:00 a.m. (and tomorrow starts even earlier for me).  We had some news today from the Governor about a big change to the state's restrictions and standards.  I haven't had a chance to look through those yet, but we will have a summary for you in the blog tomorrow.

CORONAVIRUS STATS

Nationally, the CDC reports 7,787,548 cases with 214,446 fatalities.

Utah:  87,819 cases (up 987 from yesterday); 4,383 hospitalizations; 522 deaths (no change from yesterday)

Utah County:  23,624 cases (up 287 from yesterday); 794 hospitalizations; 66 deaths (no change from yesterday)

NEWS YOU CAN USE

• As all Amazon shoppers probably know, today is the first Prime Day, in which Amazon offers discounts all day on various items. Be sure to avoid fraud this year by doing things such as looking for the lock to the left of the URL in the address bar.
• Johnson and Johnson has had to halt the trials on its Covid-19 vaccine temporarily due to a patient contracting an illness. It is unclear whether this illness has anything to do with the vaccine (or even if the patient received the vaccine or a placebo), and procedures like this are commonplace in vaccine testing, but it will delay their process.
• For a bit of fun news, a man in Riverton grew a 1,200 pound pumpkin this year!

PROVO SOCIAL MEDIA

THE MAYOR'S DAY

Today, Mayor Kaufusi:

• Met with the Deputy Mayor
• Participated in the Utah County Covid-19 Economic Recovery Meeting
• Held a meeting about businesses
• Participated in an APPA Policy Makers Council meeting
• Met with the Admin Services director
• Participated in a meeting on employee benefits
• Met with the RDA Executive Committee

FUN STUFF

After hours and hours of tortured deliberation, we have come to a decision about the winning department. There were so many incredible displays and themes and it was truly a difficult decision to make. So without further ado, we give you the winner of the Maskerade Department competition:

ADMIN SERVICES!

But we couldn't just leave it there, we had to pick a runner up, so our second place goes to:

COMMUNITY AND NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES!

Congratulations to all the departments for their tireless efforts. In our book, you are all winners and we are so grateful!

Have a great rest of your day!

Wayne

October 12, 2020 Update

Welcome to a new week.  Things were busy for us over the weekend.  I promised a photo of the status of our kitchen cabinets "remodel project."  We are nearing completion - but here is a picture from Saturday that shows the overall look and feel of the new family kitchen.  More to come next week when we have more to show.

I also wanted to address a recent newspaper article highlighting discussions around the challenges from our utility billing software implementation.  The article also suggested an "outbreak" of Covid-19 in our customer service/311 call center.  While we have had a number of exposures to Covid-19 among employees in the department, I am not aware of anyone knowingly coming into work with a positive Covid diagnosis.  Out of an abundance of caution, some of our 311 employees are self-quarantining and others are working from home.  But it could not fairly be characterized as an "outbreak."  In the cases when we have had a city employee test positive, we had advised the employees who were likely exposed of the positive test and advised them to take appropriate steps.  Just a reminder that if there were an outbreak or known exposure that put you at risk, you would hear about it through official sources, not from the newspaper.  Nothing is more important to us than the safety and health of our employees and we commit to keeping you informed should there be an issue.

CORONAVIRUS STATS

Nationally, the CDC reports 7,740,934 cases with 214,108 fatalities.

Utah:  86,832 cases; 4,331 hospitalizations; 522 deaths

Utah County:  23,337 cases; 783 hospitalizations; 66 deaths

NEWS YOU CAN USE

• US Senate hearings began today on the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
• Tomorrow is the Congressional debate between Representative Ben McAdams and his challenger, Burgess Owens. 
• Mail in ballots go out this week, so be on the lookout for those coming in over the next little while.
• Paris Hilton has led a protest here in Provo calling for the closure of a local school that she attended a little over 20 years ago. 
• A cougar stalked a man jogging up Slate Canyon and created a terrifying experience for our trailing running friend. For those canyon runners out there, be safe!

Departments join the maskerade

Thank you for all who participated in the "Maskerade" fun! There were some fun and pretty incredible displays, which will make picking winners no easy task! Enjoy a few of the highlights, and be sure to check out the folder with all of our photos, these few on here don't capture just how phenomenal everything looked! Nice work, everyone!  

Legal:

HR:

311:

Finance:

Police:

Mayor's Office:

Community and Neighborhood Services:

Library:

Peaks:

Development Services:

PROVO SOCIAL MEDIA

THE MAYOR'S DAY

Today, Mayor Kaufusi:

• Met the the Police Chief
• Held a meeting with the Fire Chief
• Participated in the Utah County Covid-19 Coordinating call
• Held a meeting with Mayor's office staff
• Participated in a communications meeting
• Met with the City PIO
• Participated in a meeting with her executive team
• Met with the Assistant CAO
• Held a meeting with the Deputy Mayor

FUN STUFF

I don't think I have highlighted any Neil Diamond music on the blog before, but this little cover from the Holderness family parodying famous Neil Diamond songs with a pandemic in mind is worth a little love.  For you younger folks who don't know Neil Diamond, you may recognize a few of these tunes from your mom and dad's 8-tracks.  :)

Long post today - sorry for including so much!  We appreciate you!

Wayne

October 8, 2020 Update

It is Thursday!  It has been a busy day for sure, but a good share of it was spent visiting with many of our employees at various city offices seeing what you are doing to "join the maskerade."  It has been fun to see decorations (including a headless horseman and numerous gnomes), seeing some creative masks (including head cut-outs of several city officials), and seeing police vehicles masked up for the day.  Thanks everyone for your creativity!  

CORONAVIRUS STATS

Nationally, the CDC reports 7,528,313 cases with 211,132 fatalities.

Utah:  81,947 cases (up 1,501 from yesterday); 4,167 hospitalizations; 501 deaths (up 5 from yesterday)

Utah County:  22,010 cases (up 444 from yesterday); 749 hospitalizations; 66 deaths (no change from yesterday)

NEWS YOU CAN USE

• Utah biologists just conducted a survey of fish populations in Deer Creek Reservoir. This teaches them about diet, population growth, and the status of other species in the lake.
• The Vice Presidential debate was last night, and if you haven't heard it, be sure to watch it!
• On another note, unemployment rates have remained steady for the past month and a half, which is a relief for many after the steep increase since the start of the pandemic.
• Today is National Ombud's day! So I couldn't let this day pass without a shout-out to our favorite Ombudsman, Tara Riddle! Tara is the greatest and we are so lucky to have her! In our opinion, she is the world's best ombudsman! If you can remember back to an earlier update, she also happens to be the world's greatest Easter egg artists guesser, and you can see her claiming her prize below!

PROVO SOCIAL MEDIA

THE MAYOR'S DAY

Today, Mayor Kaufusi:

• Participated in City Council leadership meeting
• Visited departments for the "Maskerade" competition
• Met with an advisory council meeting

FUN STUFF

I have to be a little careful with this one because technology seems to be going much faster than I can keep up with, and I may be a bit more like this grandma than I would care to admit!

View this post on Instagram

Grandma learning how to use the microphone....

A post shared by BVIRAL™ (@bviral) on Oct 6, 2020 at 7:17am PDT

I hope you have a great weekend!  We are getting lots closer to the end of our kitchen project - photos to come next week!

Wayne