By ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

CANTON -- With the governor's COVID-19 shutdown order still in place, the traditional kick-off to the spring building season has been delayed in some cases and modified in others.

Canton Code Enforcement Officer Jeffrey Murray reported to the village Board of Trustees at their Zoom meeting session Monday, April 20 that many of the contractors he is working with at projects around town have had to delay progress or change how they are working on construction jobs to comply with social distancing restrictions put in place by the state.

"It's been a confusing month," Murray told the board. "Now instead of telling contractors what kind of work they can do, now it's who can work and who can't."

"I'm getting questions every day and it changes daily on who can actually be out there doing work and who can't be," Murray said. "I never thought I'd ever see this, where I'm actually sending people home from work and telling them 'You can't work right now.' Pretty much the whole village is shut down. There are a few exceptions. Sole proprietors, one person that's working solely by himself, they can still work. If you are working on a hospital, you can work. If you are working on a power line you can work. Other than that there is not a lot of leeway for any of our self-employed contractors to be able to do much."

"It's concerning to me because I get contact from the contractors every day wondering, because I've had them shut down for 9 days now," Murray said. The code enforcer said he has directed contractors to contact him everyday to see if things have changed with what the state will allow during the pandemic shutdown. Murray said the state plans on May 15 as the date contractors will be allowed back to work.

"That's just really bad for a lot of guys who count on that paycheck every day and that's the only paycheck they have coming in is (from) the work they are doing themselves," the code enforcer said. "That's hard for them, when you go into a job site and tell them 'You've got to go home, you can't work here.'"

Murray said 90 percent of the independent contractors working on projects in Canton have been very agreeable with the restrictions. "We've had a few issues, but not very many. I'm just hoping this quicker," Murray said.

The code enforcer said he thought the governor should look at reopening the state on a regional basis. "I think there are things we could put back together up here and let them work and be safe, but that's just my opinion and I just don't know if that's going to change anything," Murray said.

Village Trustee Carol Pynchon asked Canton Economic Director Leigh Rodriguez if there was any economic aid available through some of the coronavirus stimulus opportunities for businesses that would help local independent contractors.

Rodriguez said contractors are all eligible for funds from the Small Business Association Disaster Relief Program available to local businesses, including the SBA's Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program and the Paycheck Protection Program. Information on those programs can be found on the Canton municipal website at https://cantonny.gov/government/covid-19-info/information-for-businesses/sba-programs/. The director said contractors could be eligible for unemployment insurance as well.

Pynchon advised Murray to direct the contractors he speaks with to the website to learn more.