Why the utilities director wears a mask

As COVID numbers drop–and fewer and fewer people wear masks–Scott Parris of Walhalla kept his mask on.  For a couple of important reasons.  The city can ill afford to lose to quarantine one of its water plant operators.  So Parris, the utilities director, makes sure he’s protected not only for himself, but to safeguard his employees from the possibility that he could transmit the virus to them.  In that case, Parris has said, he wants to be free to step in to fill in for a treatment plant operator who might be forced from the job.  Councilman Grant Keehn, in a news conference this week, brought this to the fore to demonstrate why he believes it’s imperative to better compensate Walhalla’s crew of certified water plant operator, to stave off the possibility that they might find better pay and working conditions elsewhere.