Keep it up

Keep it up, Jay County.

“Thank God we’re doing what we’re doing,” health department environmentalist and administrator Heath Butz told Jay County Commissioners on Monday morning.

Butz said social distancing efforts and closures have been a factor in keeping the county’s confirmed cases of COVID-19 at seven.

“At this point, it’s important that we don’t get complacent,” he said. “Most people are adhering to the order. … The measures are working, but we need to continue with those measures.”

Butz urged residents to wear masks when in public, particularly for grocery shopping trips.

“Just a cloth mask is fine,” he said. “There’s a lot of people making them. … You don’t have to get a specifically made mask.”

Cloth masks have the advantage of being washable. He recommended that they go through the dryer with a high heat setting.

“It’s nice to see everyone coming together,” said Butz. “As a community we’re doing really well.”

Testing for COVID-19 continues to be on a targeted basis, he noted.

“The trick is going to be, how do we back off of these measures and not see a resurgence,” said Butz.

Commissioners Chuck Huffman, Mike Leonhard and Chad Aker unanimously agreed to pull back the work of county ditch crews to safety-related issues only.

“Unless it’s an emergency,” said commissioner Aker, “it’s not following the governor’s orders.”

“It’s not essential unless it’s a safety issue,” said Huffman.

Highway superintendent Donnie Corn said work to protect the county’s stone roads during wet spring weather is continuing but with adjustments because of the pandemic.

“Nobody’s in the same vehicle,” said Corn. “They’re all in their dump trucks.”

Employees are working on stone roads two days a week, and some of that work is going more quickly than usual because of reduced traffic.

Highway department employees have agreed to accept compensatory time rather than additional pay during the emergency county government shutdown.

That will ease the financial impact, but it could create a scheduling problem later this year.

At the suggestion of county auditor Anna Culy, commissioners unanimously agreed to extend the deadline for use of compensatory and “flex” time to Dec. 31 from June 1.

Culy said there’s little information available about what assistance county government might receive to help cover the cost of the pandemic.

“All I’m doing now is tracking,” she said. “I’m trying to track it all.”

As part of that tracking, commissioners agreed at Culy’s urging to establish a COVID-19 equipment fund by moving $50,000 from the cumulative capital equipment fund. As items such as personal protective equipment are purchased, the expenditures can be accurately accounted for.

In other business, commissioners:

•Reviewed a two-week traffic study of county road 250 West between 700 South and 800 South and urged that a similar study be made of traffic south of 800 South. There had been complaints about speeding and truck traffic on those roads.

•Approved Corn’s suggestion to have highway department employees work on a schedule of four 10-hour days between June 1 and Sept. 11 in an effort to improve efficiency.

•Accepted a $2,000 donation from The Portland Foundation to Jay County Emergency Management Agency for the purchase of supplies related to COVID-19.

•Noted property tax bills are going into the mail this week and urged the public to make their payments by the usual May deadline.

•Took under advisements bids for supplying petroleum emulsion to the county highway department.