Hoquiam Mayor Ben Winkelman issued an emergency executive order Monday that temporarily closed city parks with playgrounds.

The proclamation stated the closure was necessary because “people continue to gather in city parks with playgrounds against the guidelines for social distancing set forth by the CDC and other public health officials.”

The proclamation also called for the closure of “non-essential operations of the City of Hoquiam until further notice,” effective Monday, March 23, at 5 p.m.

Essential personnel designated by Winkelman or City Administrator Brian Shay will continue to report to work “in order to maintain public safety and other functions that are critical to maintaining the operations of the City of Hoquiam,” read the proclamation.

Essential personnel are identified as, but not limited to, water and wastewater treatment plant operators, the Public Works superintendent, and the on-call Public Works employees.

Non-essential employees will receive regular pay for the period of the closure and “be expected to respond to emails, phone messages or perform other assigned tasks by their supervisor during normal working hours.” Non-essential workers are instructed to “respond to work for emergencies or essential functions such as water main breaks, life/safety emergency inspections, electrical failures, processing payroll, collection of utility payments and processing bills as directed by their supervisor.”