Carroll County Supervisor Chair, Rich Ruggles, called for a discussion on the current COVID-19 situation in the county at the regular meeting Monday morning. He says he was approached by several people who were anxious about the growing positivity rates and questioning what the county is planning on doing with the courthouse during this spike. He provided details on why a closure is not possible now.
Even a closure during that window, Ruggles says, isn’t likely to make much of a difference in the number of people in the courthouse at any given time.
Carroll County Auditor, Kourtney Irlbeck, stressed the fact that her office must remain open to allow for absentee voting and that the Treasurer’s Office is scheduling appointments for routine business, but they are also busy processing tax payments that are being brought in to the courthouse. A closure right now, no matter the circumstances, is just not possible. Supervisors Gene Meiners and Dean Schettler agree. Meiners says they need to encourage people to wear masks while in the building and to take the appropriate physical distancing and sanitizing safeguards. Schettler says he has been hearing from other counties across Iowa that the rapid spread is coming from specific events, not from people’s daily routine tasks.
Irlbeck adds that even though masks are not required in the courthouse, she says it is rare to see people coming in without one. She says they are doing things the same way as many local businesses, and people appear to be getting used to wearing masks, staying six feet apart and sanitizing their hands frequently.
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