Clerk of Courts and Comptroller Danny Shipp walks toward a first floor doorway in the Levy County Courthouse that will separate the security side from the civil side. No one will be allowed to come through the door except for authorized staff.
By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Levy County Court will reopen for the first time in two months Monday using new COVID-19 screening procedures that are expected to slow people entering the courthouse and create a security nightmare for Sheriff Bobby McCallum, Levy County Commissioners learned in an emergency meeting Tuesday.
Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canaday issued an administrative order on May 21 mandating that all persons entering the courts or any part of the facilities that house the courts must wear masks, including judges, and all must be tested to ensure they don’t have a fever. The new security screening procedures are a response to Canaday’s order.
The county is purchasing a thermal imaging camera for the north courthouse security entrance. The thermal imager will photograph people in infrared to detect fever as they arrive for county court. People with a temperature of more than 100.4 won’t be allowed to enter. Their name must be reported to the judge.
The courthouse weapons and bomb scanner is being moved from the courthouse lobby to the new security entrance. The security entrance was once the main entrance for the courthouse. It was closed many years ago when the county commission decided it needed one entrance. The board funneled all courthouse traffic through the lobby and its first security scanner. With the new arrangement, the lobby won’t have a security scanner beginning Monday. Deputies won’t be policing the area. Visitors should move smoothly through the non-secure area.
Answering Questions
Every person arriving for county court at the security entrance must answer five questions to determine if they might be sick with COVID-19 or may have come into contact with someone who was sick with the illness caused by the Coronavirus. It’s all part of the effort to comply with Canaday’s order aimed at ensuring no one enters the courts sick with COVID-19.
Questions to be asked:
Question 1: Do you have any of the following symptoms excluding those connected with a known medical reason – cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, chills, muscle pain, sore throat or recent loss of taste or smell?
Question 2: Are you currently awaiting the results of a test to determine if you have COVID-19?
Question 3: Are you under instructions to self-isolate or quarantine due to COVID-19?
Question 4: Have you had close contact with someone with COVID-19?
Question 5: Have you traveled to an area with a notably high concentration of COVID-19 cases?
People who don’t have a fever of 100.4 and answer all five questions “no” can walk into the courtroom. The chief justice is requiring social distancing separation of 6 feet between people in the courtroom, limiting occupancy and further slowing the court proceedings. County officials don’t know if the thermal imager will be in place by Monday. They didn’t receive Canaday’s memo until late last week.
Massive Mess
In his statement to the board, McCallum quoted County Coordinator Wilbur Dean from an earlier appearance at the board meeting when Dean said there would be 122 people coming to court on Monday and 137 on Tuesday.
“So this is going to be a massive, massive security mess,” McCallum said.
Commissioners also unanimously approved an executive order stating that Levy County residents won’t be required to wear masks in county facilities or private facilities. The exception is the security entrance at the courthouse where masks are mandatory.
The courthouse has been divided in half. A temporary doorway was installed on the first floor of the courthouse near the property appraiser’s hallway entrance. People using offices on the property appraiser side of the doorway won’t be required to wear masks. People on the other side of the doorway, the secure area, must wear masks.
Clerk of Courts and Comptroller Danny Shipp said his employees have been warned not to allow anyone to follow them through the temporary door for any reason. He said they will be terminated immediately for violating the rule.
Meeks Meets on Masks
Levy County Commissioner John Meeks said he met last week with the sheriff, Shipp, Eighth Judicial District Administrator Paul Silverman and Eighth Judicial Circuit Judge Chief Judge James P. Nilon to head off an effort by the Eighth Judicial District to mandate the wearing of masks everywhere in the courthouse. The group agreed to move the security entrance and limit the wearing of masks to the security side of the courthouse.
“What was brought to my attention was the court felt it had the right to mandate that everybody who went in or out of the courthouse had to wear a mask. It didn’t matter if they were attending court, going to file paperwork with the clerk of if they were employed by the clerk or they were employed by the property appraiser; if they were just there to get out of the heat for a few minutes they had to put on a mask,” Meeks said. “I’m not trying to make a statement; I don’t think this board is trying to make a statement with this emergency statement; I believe that masks should be a choice; if you want to wear a mask that’s fine, but to mandate that the employees of Levy County need to wear a mask because they are housed in the same building as the courts; that didn’t sit well with me.”
Meeks said the group discussed various scenarios and options. Group members selected the option that made the most sense, which was moving the security entrance. He said there had been a plan in place earlier to move the security entrance. He said it wasn’t anything new or a waste of money, but he believes it will take the pressure off overworked staff at the security entrance.
“There’s still some discussion of masks in the courthouse. What is the definition of the courthouse? What is the definition of the court system? I am going to stand by what I have said for years; whatever happens inside the courtroom during court is the jurisdiction of the judge. Whatever happens when the court is not in session or whatever happens in parts of the courthouse that are not directly related to the court are, our responsibility,” Meeks said.
County Attorney Anne Bast Brown said Florida Statutes say the county commission is required to provide security for the courts.
“I would say that does include temperature scanning and general safety of people attending court,” she said. “Based on previous research I would say that the courts don’t have the authority to dictate what happens in the entire courthouse.”
Brown said she first learned of Canady’s order Thursday or Friday. She said there wasn’t time to do research. She told commissioners she expanded their executive order giving residents the right to enter county facilities without a mask to include private facilities. She said commissioners could remove her wording if they desired. They left the wording unchanged.
Chairman Wasn’t Consulted
Commission Chairman Matt Brooks expressed disappointment that he wasn’t contacted about the issue of wearing masks in the courthouse.
“I appreciate John Meeks taking the lead and working with Wilbur and the other individuals to get it done. The only thing I will say is that being the chair of this board I found it a little disturbing I guess that I wasn’t contacted or consulted on things that are taking place right now, kind of after the fact,” Brooks said. “I would hope that court side would reach out to me as chairman in making these decisions.”
Meeks said he overheard two clerks talking after a previous board meeting about the mask issue and that’s how he heard about it.
Meeks sais he had previously told the board that dismantling the former courthouse facilities committee wasn’t a good idea, even though some of the key players in the group were moving their offices’ next door to the Annex Building. The courthouse facilities committee, composed of elected officials and staff, made recommendations on repairing, replacing or remodeling courthouse facilities. It was dismantled last year.
“I did have concerns about this board not being represented by an elected official on the decision making about the courthouse. That’s still the people of Levy County’s Courthouse,” Meeks said. “I hope this is an eye-opener. We may not need the same working group; we need some manner that seeks representatives of this board, not from staff. The chair is designated and has some say,” in the new working group.
Meeks said the county saved court facilities money for many years. He would rather see the county use the money for improvements to the courthouse security to protect the public and “not to build the Taj Mahal.”
Brooks agreed a working group was needed.
Meeks Gets “Voluntary” Assignment
“I would like to have Commissioner John Meeks to be on this group because he wanted to, ‘do the, I told you so,’” Brooks said smiling. “I think you are the appropriate person to volunteer for this position.”
Board of County Commission Emergency Meeting May 26, 2020; Posted May 26, 2020
