Jefferson County officials receive health briefing, discuss operations going forward

FAIRBURY - Department heads from Jefferson County and the city of Fairbury gathered in the district courtroom Tuesday morning for a briefing on the latest developments with COVID-19.

The Jefferson County Commissioners moderated the briefing, which was attended by practically every county and city leader, including Fairbury mayor Homer Ward (via phone), Sheriff Nels Sorenson, Fairbury Public Schools superintendent Stephen Grizzle (phone), Fairbury city administrator Mary Renn (phone), Jefferson and Saline County Emergency Manager John McKee and more.

Kim Showalter, the health director for Public Health Solutions, started off by listing some statistics regarding COVID-19 in the state. As of Tuesday, there were 18 confirmed cases in Nebraska - the majority of those in Douglas County.

Showalter said that to date, there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Jefferson, Saline, Gage, Fillmore or Thayer counties. She said that three people within those counties have tested negative for COVID-19, and they're awaiting results on six other tests.

The discussion then pivoted toward the operation of county services going forward. The county commissioners listed law enforcement, I.T. services, the highway department and ambulance services as the most essential services that must continue to operate.

"Our objective will be to continue to provide those essential government services to our citizens," commissioner Mark Schoenrock stated. "But, how we do that could change, and we're going to have to think outside the box."

Sheriff Sorenson also noted that staffing the county jail will be of utmost importance during this time.

"This is going to be a fast changing thing," Sorenson added. He also noted that one of his jail staff has been out with illness since Friday.

County commissioner chairman Gale Pohlmann said the Jefferson County Courthouse will remain open for the time being, but he encouraged people to make any tax payments, or even fill out voting ballots, by mail if possible. Nebraska's presidential primary is on May 12.

Pohlmann and Schoenrock said all options for county operations are on the table. As in, who qualifies as essential and non-essential personnel is ever changing, and the decision to close the courthouse to the public is not off the table.

"Life as we've known it in the past is going to be different for the next period of time," Schoenrock said. "We don't how long that's going to be, but working together, we will get through this."

Pohlmann said county officials can use sick leave and designated vacation days if they get sick. That way, employees would still get paid over a two-week period.

"Whatever happens after that, we will work with you," Pohlmann assured.

County officials also encouraged people to sign up for AlertSense notifications if they haven't done so already. The link to do this can be found here.

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