After seeing members of the public making nonessential trips to county buildings, the Johnson County Board of Commissioners on Thursday called an emergency meeting to order all buildings closed to the public from 3 p.m. Thursday to 8 a.m. April 7.
Johnson County courts will continue to follow guidance from the Indiana Supreme Court on operations.
Commissioner Brian Baird asked the public to take the COVID-19 threat seriously and cut out nonessential trips. The goal is to reduce the spread of the virus for both the community and the public.
“I think right now people are not taking seriously the risk that there is,” Baird said. “We are not only looking to protect the people who are inside this building, but the people outside of it.”
The commissioners voted unanimously to close the buildings, but had some debate about it. Commissioner Ron West, who joined the meeting from home via Zoom video conferencing, asked his fellow commissioners to consider: “When do we get back to normal life?”
Also, in response to several county employees developing COVID-19-like symptoms and being sent home without pay, the commissioners decided to consider requests to give 2 1/2 days of sick pay to new hires on a case-by-case basis.
Department heads were given flexibility to use their own discretion about whether employees should work from home or in the office.
The April 7 reopen date is tentative and will be reevaluated by the commissioners closer to that date.
