Governor Ron DeSantis has issued a number of Executive Orders this week; four were issued yesterday concerning (but not limited to) the following:

• Local government public meetings: Any Florida Statute that requires a quorum to be present in person or requires a local government body to meet at a specific public place is suspended. Local government bodies may utilize communications media technology.

• All restaurants and food establishments within the State of Florida are to suspend on-premises food and alcohol consumption for customers. The listed establishments may, however, operate their kitchens for the purpose of providing delivery or take-out services.
–Also, the restriction is lifted that prohibits a specially licensed food service establishment from selling package sales of alcohol for delivery, take-out or consumption off-premises for restaurants complying with Executive Order 20-68. Alcohol sales to go with food that is picked up or delivered will be permitted and I.D. will be required for orders including alcohol while Florida is under a state of emergency.

• Gymnasiums and fitness centers within the State of Florida are to close.

• All hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, office surgery centers, dental, orthodontic and endodontic offices, and other health care practitioners’ offices in the state of Florida are prohibited from providing any medically unnecessary, non-urgent or non-emergency procedure or surgery which, if delayed, does not place a patient’s immediate health, safety or wellbeing at risk, or will, if delayed, not contribute to the worsening of a serious or life-threatening medical condition.

You can view all of the Governor’s Executive Orders at flgov.com/2020-executive-orders.

Polk County Government is doing everything it can to protect the health and safety of our residents, employees and guests from the spread of the COVID-19 virus. This is an uncertain time in our country and we are all in this together. The entire nation is being asked to take some extreme measures for a period of time to slow the growth of the coronavirus.

The Board of County Commissioners also wants to provide as many services as we can; however, we now find it necessary to close many of our facilities to public access and counter transactions until a time to be determined.

Effective at sunset today, Saturday March 21, all county parks and natural resource facilities will be closed until further notice. This includes parks with playgrounds and recreational leagues, environmental lands and trails such as Fort Frasier, campgrounds, dog parks, the shooting range, History Center, Circle B Bar Reserve, Bone Valley ATV Park, Homeland Heritage Park and our resource centers.

Beginning Monday, all county facilities will be closed to public walk-in transactions. This includes the County Administration Building, Frank Smith Building on Golfview Avenue in Bartow, Indigent Healthcare offices, Utilities Administration, Gil Jones and Lakeland branch facilities. These facilities will be closed to the public until further notice.

Polk County government will remain available for business to customers through our website for services that include bill payments, development review and permitting. Customers may also mail payments or applications or call for more information.

Residential garbage collection will continue as scheduled. The landfill will also remain open; however, customers coming to the landfill should anticipate delays in service due to increased traffic as we practice social distancing measures.

Polk County thanks you for your patience and understanding during this critical time in our country.

Please find the attached documents for:

RFP 20-01 Race Road

RFQ 20-01 Clarifier Final

For businesses and employers looking for assistance, please check out the following site: https://www.cfdc.org/covid/