Access denied

The County Council meeting on Tuesday night may be the last County meeting that the public will be able to attend for some time. The Commissioners meeting in April will be closed to public attendance but will be streamed on-line and the public may be able to submit questions. That announcement and others were the highlights as the meeting served as a way for the County to announce what it is doing as a result of the Chinese Corona Virus outbreak.

Over 8000 people have seen the video of the first part of the meeting, which was streamed on Facebook. (One could say it went viral.) During the meeting there were as many as 650 watching live. So I will save a summary of that part of the meeting to the end of this post and talk about what happened after the feed was shut down and most of the people attending the meeting left.

The Council approved an additional appropriation of $10,000 for Community Services. The Sheriff gave the Council copies of the jail report and then told them that he had found the funds needed to purchase the Spillman dispatch software so he would not need any additional appropriations from the Council. He is still taking funds for maintenance of the software and that cost will increase as more departments join in using it. There are lengthy training periods ahead and June 2021 is the target date to begin using it.

The County Clerk wants as many people as possible to vote by absentee ballot in the upcoming primary election. To get an absentee ballot, call the Clerk's office at (219) 866-4926.

The assistant Coroner said that the Coroner's office was getting daily updates from the CDC. Traditional funerals are probably not going to be happening for a while, which may be painful for friends and relatives of the deceased.

The County is working with the newspaper and the radio station to keep the public informed with what is happening.

The meeting opened with statements by several people. Commissioner Culp stated that we are in uncharted waters and we do not know what the next steps will be. He introduced Dr. Nelson, the County Health Officer. She advised people to stay at home as much as possible, to wash their hands frequently, to maintain social distance and avoid shaking hands. People should meet on-line but should not trust social media. People with health issues and the elderly (those over 60) are at higher risk. Debra Nagel from the Health Department repeated the advice to stay at home as much as possible. The Health Department has suspended its vaccinations.

Next Karen Wilson, Director of Emergency Management, said that the Corona Virus has been declared a national emergency. Local governments will be able to get reimbursement for funds spent on virus protection but they need to keep records and receipts.

Kendall Culp spoke next and announced that the public no longer would have access to virtually all County buildings and offices. One exception is the lobby of the jail and the other is limited access to the Court rooms. Property Tax installments are due in May and they can be mailed or dropped off at several banks. Employees of the Court House will have to enter through the public entrance and they will have their temperature taken. (It is with a ear probe--all those attending the County Council meeting had their temperatures taken) If the temperature is 100.4 or greater, they will told to leave. In three weeks the situation will be re-evaluated but until then access is closed to the public.

Here again is the video from the start of the meeting.

The County website is at https://www.jaspercountyin.gov/.

At the entrance to the Court House on Tuesday night;