Just weeks after the birth of daughter Amila Maelle Carter, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter now finds himself in the position of temporarily shuttering public access to rec centers, playgrounds and libraries for safety concerns. Those are some of things he campaigned on expanding in his 2017 run for office.

The city has not resorted to laying off employees. But at a time of increased city expenses and plummeting revenue due to the pandemic, Carter predicts lasting impacts to city governance and finances.

Last Wednesday evening the city opened applications for a $4 million “Bridge Fund” grant program to help small businesses and low-income families financially impacted by the pandemic. The lottery-style program offers $7,500 for qualifying business owners, and $1,000 in housing assistance to families earning 40 percent of area median income, which is $40,000 for a family of four.

By Friday, the city’s website had applications from 3,000 families and 1,200 small business owners, and the St. Paul and Minnesota Foundation has set up a GiveMN donation website to help pay for the fund.

More information about the Bridge Fund is available at tinyurl.com/StpBridge or by calling 651-266-6565.

Carter spoke to the Pioneer Press recently about the state of the city at a time of pandemic. The following remarks have been edited for length and clarity. Video of the full interview is online at tinyurl.com/Carter0409.

We’ve seen a lot of changes — playgrounds are now closed, city council meetings are now remote, skyways are closing at 7 p.m. I assume you did not sign up for this. Give us a broad overview.

Frankly, some of the stuff that we’re during right now are the things I signed up not to do. Nobody who knows me well would have have guessed that I’d have said, ‘Yeah we’re going to temporarily cease public-facing operations in our rec centers, our libraries, in Como Zoo.’ … But this is a crisis. This is an emergency. And unusual times require an unusual set of responses.

As heavy as this moment is, I’m inspired every day by the work of city staff. We just saw city staff stand up the Bridge Fund application in record time. The idea was in formulation for about a week. We passed it through the city council, and about a week later the application was live.

We’re redefining countless jobs right now to allow our city staff to continue to serve people in a safe manner, in a different way than they’re used to. And then seeing St. Paul residents step forward, and restaurant owners giving out food. As challenging as this moment is, that’s pretty heartwarming.

What are you doing to help small businesses and everyday residents?

We’re considering all options. We’ve started with the Bridge Fund. The idea is to try to figure out how to create some emergency resource aid available to some of our most vulnerable families and small businesses, those who are most sensitive to sudden shocks in the economy. It doesn’t do everything for everyone. We know everybody is hurting right now.

We’re going to have to do a whole lot more in partnership with our county, our state, and hopefully with significant resources coming from our federal government to help. But that Bridge Fund is an important first step.

What we heard at the city council meeting Wednesday is that revenue from building permits is still strong for now. There’s going to be a little lag there as the economy sags. Revenue from parking meters is obviously down. Sales taxes are down a lot. Revenues are down anywhere from 20 percent to 60 percent, maybe even 70 percent. This isn’t just a difficulty in planning next year’s budget. There’s going to be some changes to this year’s budget, right?

We’re expecting this to change really every aspect of city governance. We’ve already taken on a significant amount of expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and we expect that to continue to increase. There’s of course the possibility of firefighters, police officers, paramedics coming into contact with COVID-19 in the course of their duties, and we’ve told officers and first responders they will have access to worker’s compensation support should they contract COVID-19 while on duty.

Between the increased expenses, and the possibility for significantly decreased revenues, I do anticipate significant changes that will impact our budget not only today but over the coming years.

The city is a major employer in St. Paul. Are we already in lay-off mode? Are we letting people go?

The city is a major filler of needs in St. Paul, as well. We have begun to constantly rethink and re-imagine how our city employees can help in this time and provide critical public services. While we don’t have an open gym and we don’t have story time inside the library, we’re seeing librarians step forward and say ‘We want to do a virtual story time.’ We’re seeing rec leaders in our St. Paul rec systems doing check-ins online, in the same way as they would in a gym if we had our Rec Check programs going on right now.

It’s an opportunity for us as public servants and city employees to demonstrate what the power and value of a strong municipal government can be.

Any prediction on when things start turning back to some semblance of normal? When does the Rondo Library reopen? When do the rec centers start allowing handball?

Therein lies the challenge. We’re trying to figure out how to do sustainably what we don’t know how long we’re going to have to sustain. And also, we don’t know what that new normal will be on the other side of this. I think the best we can do is assess the recommendations that we’re getting from the Centers for Disease Control and the Minnesota Department of Health.

It’s still construction season, right? There’s some level of city work that still has to continue?

It is still construction season. And again, our focus isn’t on shutting down. Our focus is on transforming and evolving our service delivery models. Those city workers are still at work paving our roads, protecting renters in our community, doing online story times. Much of that looks fundamentally different than it did even a month ago.”

You’re working with the county. Several foundations participated in the Bridge Fund. You’re actively seeking and relying on other partners, correct?

There’s no other choice but to actively seek and rely on other partners. It’s so heartwarming the way our philanthropy and private sector community responded when we sent out a call for help to put together this Bridge Fund. The $3.25 million in city resources that we put in has already been augmented by more than $750,000 in funding from philanthropy and private sector sources.

But it’s not an end-all, be-all. We have to rely on our partners to help address a whole universe full of need. I was pleased to see the county put in $2 million for individuals experiencing homelessness. I was pleased to see the governor take action to suspend evictions in our state.

We’ve been working very closely with our Congressional delegation to make sure our needs as a city, as a community, that those needs are addressed as federal relief bills evolve and get shaped.

What can everyday residents be doing right now to help?

That is the most important question. Take very seriously and follow the guidance we’re getting from our public health professionals. The first people we should listen to are those whose job it is to track this, to use science and data and research to come up with the best practices.

Social distancing is important. Washing our hands and sanitizing our surfaces is important. Covering our cough is important. Staying home, especially if you have symptoms, and separating yourself is critical.