Archer closes city hall after COVID outbreak

Archer City Hall
Photo by Suzette Cook

Archer City Hall is closed until further notice and will be sanitized after employees tested positive for COVID-19.

Residents have been notified that if they visited city hall between June 21 and July 6, they should make an appointment for a COVID-19 test.

“City hall will be closed until further notice due to a few employees testing positive for COVID-19,” Archer Mayor Iris Bailey said in a Friday statement. “Due to HIPPA rules and regulations, we are not at liberty to disclose any identifying information regarding the person(s) that have tested positive.”

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Residents have been directed to pay bills electronically or by placing them in the city’s dropbox.

“It is our goal to ensure that all citizens and visitors of our City remain protected from this deadly and global pandemic—Covid-19,” Bailey’s statement reads. “Please continue to follow the Covid-19 guidelines for social distancing and mask wearing.”

Archer City Manager Tony Hammond is not sure when the building will open again. In an email he said it is closed “indefinitely as of right now [because] we have to sanitize City Hall!”

Archer City Hall closure sign

Early on in the pandemic, Archer joined Newberry in voicing opposition to Alachua County’s mandatory face mask rule but did not officially opt out as Newberry did. A number of Newberry staff and officials got COVID-19, including Commissioner Ricky Coleman, who was hospitalized for several months while fighting the virus.

On Friday, Alachua County announced that a joint meeting between the Alachua Board of County Commissioners and the Archer City Commission scheduled for Monday had been postponed at the request of the City of Archer: “The City of Archer has stated that Archer City Hall is closed in the interest of public health due to COVID.”

For information on COVID-19 testing and vaccine clinics visit the Alachua County Health Department website or call 352-334-7900. Local Walgreens and CVS stores provide testing, as does the Alachua County Department of Health.

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