By Katie Teachout
The Journal 

County debates re-opening procedures

 

Last updated 3/9/2021 at 11:40am



RITZVILLE – Adams County Commissioners held an online forum with department heads to discuss re-opening of county facilities with over 20 people in attendance Mar. 3.

County Auditor Heidi Hunt said her office has been serving the public all along, and it has been “working really well” except Fridays, when there are no screeners.

Screeners are stationed at the back door of the courthouse, the only entrance open to the public, Monday through Thursday. The screeners sign a person in, take their temperature, and give them a mask if they don’t have one.

With no court in session on Fridays, screeners are not present, but other offices are still open. People wanting to visit the courthouse on Fridays are asked to call ahead for an appointment, and a person from that office will let them in.

Hunt asked if having the screeners could be extended to Fridays.

“We are running up and down the stairs like crazy,” Hunt said. “We have been very busy, and we really utilize the screeners.”

“The only way we are able to maintain 25% capacity is if someone is at the door, but it costs too much to have someone at the door,” Adams County Treasurer Kayla Meise said.

Superior Court Clerk Paulette Teske said her office was able to handle a lot of business through the mail, and staff have been willing to meet people at the door, but it was not uncommon to have a mom and a dad and several kids coming in at once to get a passport.

“It’s a concern we have been discussing in our office,” Teske said.

“The public, if they get the vaccine, are going to expect some normalcy to come into play, otherwise we are going to get a lot of push-back,” Commissioner Jay Weise said. “Wearing the mask is the most important part, and having signage and knowing what to do if people aren’t wearing a mask. We are going to have to be wearing masks for some time.”

“We have been conducting business as usual, wearing masks and social distancing and sanitizing constantly,” Ritzville District Court Judge Adalia Hille said. “We have been following discussions from Washington State Supreme Court. It hasn’t been affecting the number of people appearing for court, just how they appear.”

Othello District Court Administrator Jessica Melo said they have been operating as usual. “We only allow eight in the courtroom, so there’s only one at the counter at a time.”

Melo said when the door opens at 8:30 a.m., only eight people can come in at once.

“We’re here Monday through Friday, but Fridays we do not help the public unless it is for a protection order,” Melo said. “The concern for our court is, Fridays people often want to file a protection order, but we don’t want to allow people into the building.”

The Public Services Building in Othello also only has screeners in place Monday through Thursday.

“I don’t have the luxury of not getting people on Fridays,” Lazaro Martinez with Adult Probation said. “I have been extending my appointments, and Fridays I would love to have the door open so I can let people in without continuously having to go to the door. What do we do on Fridays, and what about opening the building itself on Fridays? “

“My office’s intention is to do everything we can to serve the public,” Hunt said. “Our intention is to turn no one away. We are here to serve the public. We can go into Target. We shouldn’t have all these barriers to the public.”

Commissioner Dan Blankenship said he wasn’t certain the courthouse was still required to take people’s temperatures in Phase 2.

“We’ve been trying to get some answers out of the governor’s office, and we haven’t been able to get any real answers,” Blankenship said.

“County government is not essential, according to the (state) guidelines,” Commissioner Weise said. “I can do everything except government business. There are no guidelines for city or county government.”

“My question is, what does it mean when we say be open?” Amalia Perez, Director of Human Resources, said. “Keep the doors open? Or publicizing that court is fully staffed, and if you make an appointment we are happy to serve you? The last message was, the county is closed unless it is emergent business. I still get stopped at Harvest Foods and asked if the county is open, and I tell them to call. I think there is a disconnect between the fact we are all here. I don’t think that message has gone out to the public.”

Perez later asked if the county was ready to open doors “and have anybody showing up?”

“You still have people who are concerned, so you have to manage that,” Weise responded.

Asked if any department heads had relayed concerns from employees over going to a more open system, Perez responded not at this time.

“So far, we haven’t heard anything from employees about if we are open we are now exposed to more people,” Perez said.

“Out of my four employees, the consensus was, as much business as we are already doing, they are anxious to get back to business as normal,” Hille said.

“I have staff that have had concerns for quite some time,” Vicki Guse, Integrated Health Care Services Administrator said. “Employees are working from home, we have been able to do medical appointments from home via Zoom, so once it opens I know they are going to have more concerns about coming back.”

“Just because you open up doesn’t mean you throw away the old protocol,” Weise said. “You still need the ability to have the supplies to do the cleaning after serving the public. What does that look like for the rest of the courthouse; are we cleaning on a scheduled time? All the parts and pieces have to come into play in order to pull this off. If not, we have to step back and say we can’t do this yet.”

“If Costco is not doing temperature checks, and just requiring masks, why are we going over and beyond that?” Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner asked. “Things seem to be working okay, but the public is going to eventually say, ‘We need the services, and we need it more readily available.’”

“This is not the end of this conversation. This is just the beginning,” Blankenship said. “If people want to weigh in, they should contact myself or (Clerk) Patricia Phillips.”

– Blankenship can be emailed at [email protected], and Phillips at [email protected].

Author Bio

Katie Teachout, Editor

Katie Teachout is the editor of The Ritzville Adams County Journal. Previously, she worked as a reporter at The Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle, the Oroville Gazette-Tribune, Northern Kittitas County Tribune and the Methow Valley News. She is a graduate of Western Washington University.

 

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