MOULTRIE, Ga. — For the first time in a month, the Moultrie City Council met Wednesday afternoon to discuss the reopening of retail business across the city. 

All will be fine so long as everyone follows COVID-19 guidelines, City Manager Pete Dillard said.

The council met outside the municipal building along with a largely dispersed crowd of city business owners. Some were ready to open as soon as Friday or next week while others were still debating a reopening date.

No one had questions, however, so Dillard got down to explaining the guidelines.

“I hope you don’t need it, but document what you’re doing,” he said. “It helps you organize your thoughts. It’s really hard to separate writing and thinking, but it also adds protection to the future.”

Dillard said that the city needs to be unified during this time. The city isn’t out to be a police state so if you need help, just ask, he said.

“We’re here to work with you and help in any way we can,” he said.

This includes help with utility bills or finding grants or loans. Just communicate, he told the business owners. 

Another guideline to follow was being more transparent with customers. Dillard gave the example of Charlsie Blue Boutique owner Holly Harrell who showed the sanitation steps she’s taking to open in a Facebook post.

“It gives everybody a good indication about how serious you are and how thoughtful you’re being in preparing to open,” he said.

Dillard also used the city departments as an example whose conglomerate of almost 200 employees have had no positive cases. 

“We are going to have masks for every employee, we’ve got hand sanitizers everywhere, we’ll probably quadruple the cleaning and we sanitize city hall as well as all city vehicles everyday,” he said.

Starting Monday, May 4, temperatures of all city employees will be taken every day.

Beth Stripling, owner of Turner’s Ladies Fine Clothing, is planning to open on Friday. She met with each of her employees to make sure they felt safe and were prepared to work again. 

“For two hours individually, we talked about policy and procedure, I sent pictures of some different things for them to study,” she said. “We’re going to open ready to give hand sanitizer at the door.”

There will be constant sanitizing and cleaning of the store too. Stripling is confident about opening up making sure to wear cloth masks and practicing social distancing.

She said she’s also creating her own guidelines for those who use the fitting room.

“We will have a dressing room that will be on hold until the following business day just to make sure everything is good,” she said.

Turner’s closed on March 18 to protect its customers and employees, so with its May 1 opening, Stripling hopes there’ll be a quick recovery.

“At a time like this, I’m not sure your mind is on clothes but we are hoping customers are going to be ready to come back and browse,” she said. “We’re doing everything we can to keep them safe.”

The hope for a quick recovery is all across Moultrie.

Other guidelines for preparing to open your business include:

• Asking employees if they’re experiencing coughing or respiratory issues.

• Encouraging sick employees to stay home.

• Maintaining 6 feet of physical distance between all people.

• Cleaning and disinfecting items several times a day using soap and water, an EPA registered household disinfectant, a diluted bleach solution, and/or an alcohol solution (70 percent or up).

• Washing hands often throughout the day.

“Moultrie, Georgia, has reached a manageable stage if we continue to be very careful,” Dillard said.