Dania Beach city employees told to stay home amid COVID-19 crisis

Select few vital departments deemed essential services

DANIA BEACH, Fla. – The City of Dania Beach issued an order, telling more of its employees and staff to stay home on Tuesday.

The closure signs are posted all around the Dania Beach City Hall, with offices shutdown until further notice.

Lori Llewellan, the mayor of the coastal community, says the mandate is effective immediately.

"Anybody who is in the office, they’re being required now to work from home," said Dania Beach Mayor Lori Llewellan.

Employees in just about every single department in the city must shelter-in.

This comes on the same day Broward County officials issued their own order, to close all county operated parks and restricting the use of marinas, boat launches and other services.

This all coming while acknowledging South Florida now has the unmistakable label of being the epicenter of the state’s COVID-19 crisis.

"The numbers seem to be going up, so we don't want to see our employee get sick, we don't want to see our residents get sick, so the less we can all be around each other, the better off everybody is," said Llewellan.

Only a few vital departments are deemed essential services, where workers do not have to abide by the order.

Broward Sheriff's Office fire rescue and law enforcement deputies are on the list, along with the city’s code enforcement and parking divisions, utility water teams and sanitation crews.

The emergency order is more than what the county is requiring, but still short of forcing a citywide lockdown measure.

“We don’t want to take peoples liberties away, we still want people to be able to get things done, and there are ways to get through this and be preventative,” Llewellan said.

The mayor, and other city officials, are hoping that people will follow the example they are setting and practice better social distancing by staying inside.

They said the faster people abide by this, the faster business will be able to get back up and running.


About the Author:

Terrell Forney joined Local 10 News in October 2005 as a general assignment reporter. He was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, but a desire to escape the harsh winters of the north brought him to South Florida.