The county’s government buildings and offices will remain closed until May 4, per orders from the Johnson County Board of Commissioners.
The new anticipated open date was chosen to match Gov. Eric Holcomb’s updated stay-at-home order, which is now set to expire May 1.
The commissioners voted unanimously to keep the buildings closed, but Commissioner Ron West initially wanted to re-open offices effective Tuesday. West ultimately voted to extend the closure after several elected department heads shared their thoughts on reopening.
Treasurer Michele Ann Graves, Assessor Mark Alexander and Recorder Teresa Petro each spoke up, asking for county offices to remain closed to protect their employees, and to make sure county business can continue, they said.
Since county offices work together on property tax matters, many county offices are busy right now, collaborating daily, elected officials said. If a significant number of employees from any of their offices were to fall ill, it would be hard to continue to do business, they said.
Another consideration for staying closed is that most of the offices lack separation from the public and the germs they may be carrying, elected officials said.
After a COVID-19 scare at the assessor’s office last week, Alexander learned firsthand how bad a quarantine could be for operations, he said.
“Of my front-line staff, half of the people would be susceptible to this,” Alexander said. “I would prefer if we keep the building closed as long as the governor asks us to.”
Officials also asked the commissioners to halt reopening until more protective measures can be installed in offices. At the board’s April 13 meeting, the commissioners authorized the purchase of 20 plexiglass sneeze guards to be put up at the front counters of all the county’s courts and government offices, but those are not expected to arrive until next week.
The sneeze guards will be removable, allowing elected officials to put them up whenever there is a need for the added protection, such as now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and during the annual flu season, Commissioner Brian Baird said.
“The shields will do wonders for stopping the droplets,” Graves said. “I think it would also do mountains of good for morale.”
Baird and Commissioner Kevin Walls shared their thoughts on continuing the building closure.
"From day one, I’ve said we need to follow the governor’s order,” Wall said. “It is going to create more confusion among people if we don’t.”
While Baird is inclined to agree with West that the buildings should reopen sooner rather than later, he is erring on the side of his fellow elected officials, he said.
About 35 county employees are working remotely to social distance, said Scott Henry, the county’s IT and network specialist. While some employees are working on personal computers, most have county-provided laptops, he said.
For those working on personal computers, county IT has set up a virtual private network (VPN) connection to mitigate the risk of county systems being attacked by computer viruses, Henry said.
