COVID issues come before commissioners

Jul. 14--The coronavirus pandemic has county officials looking to both the past and the future in terms of operations and more.

During the Tuesday commissioner's meeting there were at least three items that dealt directly with the impacts of the disease and another three items that were a result of some of the economic struggles shutdowns and slowdowns have had on both government and private business.

"Dealing with COVID is challenging," said Daviess County Commissioner Nathan Gabhart. "You have small businesses, the impact on our local income taxes, the impact on our employees, the safety of our constituents. We have state agencies telling us things and federal agencies telling us things."

The commissioners have agreed to accept $10,331 in emergency purchases associated with pandemic for reimbursement through the CARES Act.

"That is current," said Kellie Streeter, deputy director for the Daviess County Emergency Management Agency. "We will most likely see further costs because COVID is active in Daviess County and the state of Indiana."

Streeter says the EMA is working with a number of local agencies including the sheriff's department, and health department and some municipal agencies looking at what the community needs may be in the future.

"How do we prepare ourselves to react to a further surge of the virus in this county and still make sure we can continue government and our operations," she said. "We need to look at the lessons we have learned. We are being told we will need to have a plan to protect ourselves because there will be no more PPE being provided."

Streeter says the EMA is planning to present a list of items that can be purchased through the CARES Act that would help put the county in a position to deal with future outbreaks.

Meanwhile, the Daviess County Health Department requested approval for a $50,000 state grant that will provide funding for a person to provide free COVID testing in the county.

"There have been a lot of changes in this since it was first introduced and exactly how we are going to handle it is still to be determined," said Daviess County Public Health Nurse Kathy Sullender. "This testing is needed on a daily basis for those who have no insurance. There are still a lot of moving parts to this but we are working with our partners in the community. This is especially needed with schools getting ready to start."

The commissioners gave their approval to the expenditure of $20,000 out of the OCRA grant it received for small business relief. The first round of grants of $5,000 each went to Norris Law Office, Smith Excavating, Mattress Outlet and The Vault.

"We work through the Daviess County Economic Development Corporation for these small business grants," said Gabhart. "We had four businesses approved by a committee on this round that can use that money to keep their employees working."

Other COVID impacts have been with the county highway department. Officials estimate fuel taxes have fallen as much as 18%. The money is used in part to help fund local highway departments. County officials have agreed to finish out the road construction projects for this year, but do not plan any new road construction in 2021.

In addition, the commissioners approved a grant application of $290,000 for the operation of the Daviess County Community Corrections program. The agency is applying for the same amount of money is received last year from the state, but state officials are looking at cuts in almost every area except education because of lower revenues as a result of shutdowns to fight the coronavirus.

"We are unclear yet on how much money we will receive," said Daviess County Community Corrections Executive Director Diana Snyder. "We have really had no direction at this point in time from the state other than submit your grant and see where it lands. The money was set aside in the state budget, but whether it will be cut is unclear."

The county has also finally passed a policies and procedures change to deal with the courthouse and other elements of county government expanding from the limited basis is operated under with many employees working from home to the current situation where the county is nearly completely open.

"The COVID is non-stop and has put twist on a lot of things," said Gabhart. "We are trying to be reactive to COVID without being over-reactive and installing unnecessary fear."

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