Municipal Utilities and COVID-19: Challenges, Responses, and Collaboration

• Author: Weijie Wang,David Switzer,Lacey Hirschvogel
• Published date: 01 August 2020
• Date: 01 August 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0275074020941711
• Subject Matter: Public Management Opportunities & Challenges in the Era of COVID-19Testing the Size, Scope, Capabilities, Capacities, & Limits of State and Local Governments

https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074020941711

American Review of Public Administration

2020, Vol. 50(6-7) 577 –583

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0275074020941711

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Testing the Size, Scope, Capabilities, Capacities, & Limits of State and Local Governments

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has put unprecedented pressure on

the economy, the public health system, and the provision of

public services. While many industries and services have

been shut down to slow the spread of the pandemic, essential

public services have continued. While most of the attention

from the media and academic world has focused on the risk

posed to the functioning of the healthcare system and health-

care workers (Chun-Hei Cheung et al. 2020; Hopkins Tanne

et al., 2020), other essential public services need to be main-

tained as well. We examine how municipal utilities have

responded to the crisis, with specific focus on how mutual

aid programs and other strategies have been employed to

maintain essential services.

Public services as varied as public works, mail delivery,

police, and transportation have all remained in operation

while the virus has spread. The risk to services posed by the

virus can be seen starkly in the experience of the New York

Police Department, where at the peak of the virus in the city,

almost 7,000 officers, or nearly 20% of the uniformed work-

force, was out of work due to sickness (Holcombe, 2020).

Public utilities, including municipal owned and operated

utilities, the subject of this commentary, also needed to con-

tinue operating. Water, wastewater, and electric services need

to be maintained throughout the spread of the pandemic, and

the failure to do so could increase the risk of the pandemic.

Sheltering in place requires that essential services continue,

and the provision of utilities is a crucial part of this. Because

of this, utilities across the country have stopped shutoffs of

water and electricity for nonpayment, with some states man-

dating these stoppages (National Association of Regulatory

Utility Commissioners [NARUC], 2020). This is especially

important in the case of water utilities, as proper sanitation is

a crucial part of fighting spread of the virus. The virus, how-

ever, poses major challenges to utility services, both in terms

of the health risk posed by virus itself and the anticipated

financial impacts.

As a team of scholars and practitioners, we examine how

municipal utilities have responded to the challenge of the

COVID-19 pandemic using publicly available information,

personal working experience, and interviews with two utility

managers in the state of Missouri. We focus specifically on

municipal owned and operated utilities here, although inves-

tor owned utilities, special districts, and nonprofit utilities

(commonly known as cooperatives) may face similar chal-

lenges. Note that throughout the manuscript we will refer to

the managers as “utility manager 1” and “utility manager 2.”

We explore the challenge the coronavirus presents to utilities,

the potential responses to maintain operations, specifically

focusing on the operation of mutual aid programs, and the

941711ARPXXX10.1177/0275074020941711The American Review of Public AdministrationSwitzer et al.

research-article2020

1University of Missouri, Columbia, USA

2Missouri Public Utility Alliance, Columbia, USA

Corresponding Author:

David Switzer, Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs, University of

Missouri, Columbia, MO 65201, USA.

Email: switzerd@missouri.edu

Municipal Utilities and COVID-19:

Challenges, Responses, and Collaboration

David Switzer1, Weijie Wang1, and Lacey Hirschvogel2

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has put pressure on essential public services. While much of the economy has been shut down,

essential public services have continued. Using professional experience, publicly available information, and interviews with

two municipal utility managers, we evaluate the challenges presented to municipal utility services by the COVID-19 pandemic

and explore some of the responses by utilities to the pandemic. Specifically, we focus on the strategies utilities have used

to keep employees safe from the virus and plans for workforce shortages. One important strategy we identify is reliance

on mutual aid agreements, where utilities agree to send staff and equipment to other utilities in times of crisis. We also

explore the role of a municipal utility association in coordinating response. The case of utility response to COVID-19 carries

important potential implications for both public administration practice and research.

Keywords

COVID-19, utilities, collaboaration