County to reopen Monday with safeguards

 

MOUNT VERNON — Next week, get used to talking to Knox County employees providing customer service behind a Plexiglass barrier.

The Knox County Service Center, 117 E. High Street, and other county facilities will be reopening for business Monday, with safeguards put into place to protect county employees as well as members of the public.

The county government had to do some adjusting. Within the span of a day, state “mandatory and required” guidelines for wearing masks when businesses reopen — described Monday by Gov. DeWine as “No mask, no work, no service, no exception” — were changed to “recommended” wearing of masks or facial coverings by Tuesday afternoon.

Safeguards still include recommending masks for those visiting offices such as the auditor’s office, clerk’s office, treasurer’s office, job and family services, commissioners office, Knox County Courthouse, map department, soil and water conservation district, and other locations. The Service Center will resume normal hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the county health department to reopen its hours of 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Commissioner Teresa Bemiller said signs recommending masks will be posted in county building entrances. Commissioner Thom Collier said the county was prepared to enforce the mask rule had the state maintained it, offering Tuesday morning, before the change, that the county could deny service to those who did not comply.

One thing that did not change: Once inside county buildings, visitors will be required to maintain social distance from each other and county employees using the 6-foot guidance.

Collier said despite reopening under state guidelines, county government still prefer — due to the coronavirus pandemic and overall health guidelines in general — that members of the public consider doing business by phone, through county online portals, by email or regular mail, and the drop box located outside the service center’s main entrance. The county treasurer’s office is planning to allow walk-up customers at its window next to the main entrance on East High Street, Collier noted.

“Even as the county offices reopen their doors, the threat of COVID-19 remains a reality, and Knox County is dedicated to protecting both the public and county employees,” a county press release stated Tuesday.

Other offices opening Monday with the same safeguards will be the Knox County Water/Wastewater Department and animal shelter, as well as the veteran services office in its new location at the former Central School on Chestnut Street. A more formal grand opening for the veterans office is being planned for some time around Memorial Day, county Administrator Jason Booth said.

A county maintenance department team of Dave Chandler, Ryan Ruhl and Rocky Canterbury attached 32 Plexiglass sheets on the counters of county offices. Similar safeguards will be put in place at other county sites. Chandler said the Plexiglass sheets are 36 inches tall by 24 inches wide, with an opening for window-related business. They were set in place with tape, but if commissioners decide they want them to become permanent fixtures, the Plexiglass can be drilled into place.

On Tuesday, with the county’s primary vote tally to be counted later that evening, the only county office open to the public was the lower floor of the Knox County Board of Elections Office, in the former Central School beside the back-of-building parking lot facing Sugar Street. Those without an address, including homeless persons and disabled persons were allowed to vote in person on what is now considered the building’s first floor. Elections board employees will not be moving into their new location in the former school until after the election is over.