Ready for stage five

Jay County Courthouse offices will reopen to the public July 6.

In anticipation of Gov. Eric Holcomb moving Indiana into stage five of its response to the coronavirus pandemic, commissioners Chad Aker and Mike Leonhard, absent commissioner Chuck Huffman, approved a reopening resolution Monday.

As of July 6, all offices and departments will be open to the public during normal business hours. Face masks or face coverings are recommended but not required. County employees will still focus on social distancing of 6 feet. They’ll be washing their hands frequently and cleaning surfaces and work areas regularly.

“Hopefully we can keep our numbers relatively low,” Jay County Health Department environmentalist and administrator Heath Butz told commissioners. “I think everybody’s ready for this to be over.”

Butz said that as of Monday morning the county had 66 confirmed cases of COVID-19. That’s up three from Friday.

On March 17, commissioners closed the courthouse “to the extent possible” with all non-essential county government operations shut down three days later. (Some offices remained open for limited hours with visits by appointment only.) The facility reopened May 4, by appointment only and with a face mask or face covering required.

Also Monday, commissioners gave approval for the courthouse to be used by the public for a variety of Winterfest events.

“I think it’s a tradition we need to carry on,” said Aker. “I think it’s just a wonderful thing to kick off the holiday season.”

The county will provide additional security to allow the annual tree lighting ceremony, Santa’s visit and the display of community Christmas trees to take place as they have in the past.

Aker said the county’s road committee is recommending several stretches of stone road to be converted to chip and seal this year.

Those on the list for conversion in 2020 include:

•200 West between 400 South and Mount Pleasant Road.

•300 South between 100 West and 200 West.

•350 South between 100 West and 200 West.

•275 South between Southtown Place and 100 West.

•450 South between U.S. 27 and Boundary Pike.

“Those are on the slate to be converted to chip and seal this year,” said Aker.

In other business, commissioners:

•Discussed problems with corn stubble clogging rural drainage systems because of the wide acceptance of no-till farming practices.

•Asked county surveyor Brad Daniels to review the details of a drainage project north of Portland that involved the city, the county, the state and some adjoining landowners.

•Tabled a request by Portland Fire Department to make use of county highway department equipment to excavate an area on land owned by the Portland Economic Development Corporation and leased by the city. Plans call for the creation of a controlled-burn area that would be used in training exercises by all area fire departments.

•Agreed to purchase an air conditioning recharging unit for the highway department from Portland Motor Parts for $3,799. The NAPA quote was the lowest submitted.

•Learned that more than 27 miles of chip-and-seal work has already been completed by the highway department this summer. The department typically does about 200 miles of chip-and-seal work each year.

•Agreed to give old computer hard drives that have been wiped clean of data to Jay County Sheriff’s Office to use for target practice.

•Gave Sheriff Dwane Ford a set of specifications for security cameras for the courthouse so that Ford can obtain “apples-to-apples” price quotes.

•Approved the May report from Jay County Retirement Center.

•Tabled action on an upgrade to the courthouse telephone system until Huffman is available to be part of the discussion.

•Agreed to provide $2,500 in sanitation supplies to Jay County Fair Association for use during the fair.