The Jones County Board of Supervisors gathered late Tuesday afternoon in an emergency meeting at the Laurel Courthouse to discuss county operations in light of the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped America. The supervisors voted to adopt some temporary measures to reduce traffic in the courthouses and other county offices. Many county offices will now be closed to walk-in traffic, meaning that residents will have to conduct county business over the phone or via mail. The reduction in traffic inside the offices and limiting social contact is in harmony with guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control.
“We’ve got to do something to be proactive on this,” said Beat 3 Supervisor Phil Dickerson.
The changes in operations made by the supervisors could affect to some degree all county offices, including Veterans Services, the Garbage Department, the Sheriff’s Office, the Coroner’s Office, the Tax Assessor’s Office and the Mississippi State Extension Office. The local courts – Chancery, Circuit and Justice – are also implementing changes to restrict in-office traffic and reduce human contact.
Danielle Ashley, the county administrator and board attorney, noted a few things residents should be aware of that will help the county still service the community while attempting to mitigate the spread of the virus.
“The Tax Assessor’s Office has a drive-thru, so that’s being used more now. The Maintenance Department is making sure that there are ways that mail and other documents can be dropped off at each of the county buildings, either by drop-box or some other mechanism,” she explained. “Chancery Court is requiring abstractors to make appointments ahead of time, and they are limiting it to two people at a time in the vault.”
“We’ve already limited the foot traffic at our office, and we’ve limited the number of admin personnel that’s in our office at one time,” chimed in Sheriff Joe Berlin. "Everything is working fine though."
“We are asking the public to be very conservative with their traveling. We're asking them to stay at home if it's possible. We know some have to work, so we ask them to do their best to just go to and from work. When you have to go to the grocery store, try to limit the number of people that go with you,” stated Board of Supervisors President Johnny Burnett. “We are striving to keep our county safe. We love our people and our county. We continually pray for our county, we pray for America and we pray for Mississippi.”
“If you can stay home, stay home,” added Beat 5 Supervisor Travares Comegys, who joined the meeting via phone. “If you have to work, do your best to follow the guidelines of the CDC and hopefully, prayerfully, we can get past this.”
Beat 2 Supervisor Larry Dykes brought up the topic of closing or keeping open the beat barns. After some discussion, the supervisors agreed to keep their crews working as long as they are healthy but limiting their proximity to each other. Dickerson said some of his crew members had voiced their desire to work over “going home and going stir crazy.”
“If it goes downhill from here, we’ll have to make some more decisions,” stated Dykes.
The supervisors are uncertain how long the new procedures will be in place, with Burnett saying that they will follow the lead of state officials and the CDC. CFO Charles Miller said no determination has yet been made of how the changes will affect the county’s revenue.