The Levy County Clerk’s Office has published a news release detailing changes to its operations starting Monday.
By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
The Coronavirus and the disease it causes, Covid-19, have triggered major changes at the Levy County Courthouse starting Monday morning when clerks will starting using gloves and masks and most people will be required to do their business from the front lobby.
Clerk of Courts and Comptroller Danny Shipp said members of the public who have business with his office will be asked to stay in the front lobby and talk to clerks and bailiffs at that location. For those residents who must do business in the clerk’s office, a masked and gloved clerk will escort them back to the office one at a time to conduct their business in person.
Shipp is trying to avoid conducting business face to face in the usual way to protect his clerks and the public from contracting or spreading the disease. He said the state is requiring the clerk’s office to enforce social distancing and discourage crowds of more than 10 people.
“If one employee gets it we will all have to go in quarantine and there’s no one to run the office. We’re not shutting anything down. We’re going to serve the public but we’re doing it in a different way to meet all the state requirements,” Shipp said.
Some of the business at the courthouse has to be conducted in person such as permitting for the commencement of a construction project, but Shipp is encouraging residents to use their access to the clerk’s website as much as possible to avoid coming to the courthouse. He said there are online packages people can print, fill out and bring to the courthouse.
For those who come to the courthouse, there are new procedures.
“If they get there and they have a traffic ticket they want to pay, we’re going to have a phone set up in the lobby so they can call traffic. Traffic will ask them to possibly pay by credit card,” Shipp said. “They won’t come past the bailiff, unless we come up and take one person at a time to the office. If we can’t handle it on the internet or in the lobby we will take them in the office.”
The use of the front lobby permits “social distancing.” The term means keeping a safe distance from other people (six feet) to avoid spreading the disease.
Shipp said things may go slower on Monday, the first day of conducting business from the front lobby. He said he may not have a phone installed in the lobby by Monday morning. He is certain he will have a phone there by Tuesday. The bailiffs have phone service at their security post. They have agreed to assist the clerks.
Shipp said the judges will be doing everything by teleconferencing to avoid large crowds. The large court hearings on Tuesdays and Wednesdays have been set aside until March 30. Criminal traffic and misdemeanor court traditionally had been held on Tuesdays and felony court on Wednesdays. Shipp said the county administrator’s office has notified people of the changes.
Emergency Declaration in Effect
Levy County Commission Chairman Matt Brooks said the State of Emergency declaration he signed the day after the most recent county commission meeting was effective the second he added his signature. He said it must be ratified when the full board meets in two weeks but he said the ratification isn’t necessary to implement the emergency declaration.
He said County Coordinator Wilbur Dean has assumed the responsibility of communicating with employees. He said Dean is telling department heads to communicate with employees by phone or email when they are given their daily job assignments rather than having them gather as a group. The idea is to create separation and discourage groups from gathering.
“A lot of it is limiting contact like every constitutional officer. If it has to be handled face to face we’ll do it, but we’re trying to keep that distancing,” Brooks said. “We’re in a whole new world. It’s a very unusual thing were having to do now. You have some states shutting everything down except for necessary personnel allowed out. That’s going to be the hard part in Florida if that comes into effect. Who do we deem essential? Any business owner that I know is going to say their business is essential to their family’s survival. I have a hard time hearing about some of that stuff going on, but I guess in extenuating circumstances you have to consider all options and figure out what to do.”
Brooks said Tax Collector Linda Fugate has closed her Chiefland and Williston offices for now. The Bronson office of the Tax Collector will remain open weekdays. The tax collector clerks work behind a glass window at the Bronson office that offers better protection from the virus. The entire Annex will remain open next week. The Annex is the former Bronson High School and Elementary School directly behind the courthouse.
Brooks said the county received word from the state Friday restaurants in Florida can sell food for takeout with no indoor dining options.
“Everyone is operating in a different zone now compared to how things were and how different they are. It’s taking some getting used to,” he said.
Brooks said county commission meetings, for now, will take place in the usual way, but he said things can change on an hour to hour basis and he doesn’t know what might be required by the time the next board meeting rolls around.
“That’s how we’re handling it. As we get more information, as things come out day to day, we might have to do things different, such as using teleconferencing,” Brooks said. “This is all new to us. I think Monday we’re going to sit down and talk about location. We don’t have anything definite. Whether we have our next meeting in the Annex cafeteria or auditorium, we’re still working out the details. We’ll get it hashed out the first of the week.”
Brooks said he has authority to call an emergency meeting if he believes the subject is something the entire board should discuss, but he said nothing is planned for the time being. He said the rules of the Sunshine Law still apply as far as communication between board members.
He said if the board wants to continue meeting as it has in the past, the state is requiring the board to provide adequate distancing between members of the public. Brooks said the Annex Auditorium would probably work best for providing the needed spacing between audience members. He said the auditorium is large enough to allow five or six seats between audience members.
But Brooks said the decision may be made to teleconference the county commission meeting to provide a safe venue for the public to participate without actually being physically present. He said things are changing so fast in response to the Coronavirus that it is difficult to project what might come about by early next week.
“All we can do is wait and pray,” Brooks said.
Screenshot from Clerk of Court Website; https://www.levyclerk.com/ : The Levy County Clerk’s Office has published a news release detailing changes to its operations starting Monday. The release includes links to information that may be valuable to residents as they navigate through the changes.
—————-
—————–
Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt – March 21, 2020; Posted March 21, 2020
