Supervisors discuss employee and public safety for building access

The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors laid out their plan for the re-opening of county buildings at a specially called meeting on Wednesday. It was agreed upon at the meeting that the county would adhere to Governor Tate Reeves Executive Order that all buildings would be open on July 1st, however; the board acknowledged that they had already been open and making sure the public was never without their services.

All services will continue to be available from the county in adherence July 1st requirement, but the Board decided to continue to keep using safety measures already in place by limiting the number of people allowed in the buildings at a given time and by only allowing entry through one door. Phone numbers will be posted at all entrances for the public to call for assistance.

The county will continue to operate in the same manner as before except for the Tax Assessor / Collector office in Poplarville. The Tax Assessor Collector’s office in Poplarville will move its services to the new annex building effective Wednesday, July 1, 2020. At that time, the county will allow residents needing services to enter the building with a limited number of seats available for seating and a limited number of customers allowed in the new office area.

New procedures will be put in place, which include the use of a backpack fogger to assist in keeping county buildings sanitized in an attempt to keep the facilities disinfected as much as possible from the COVID-19 Virus. The fogger will allow for rapid and complete coverage of all areas of public buildings and is designed to keep killing the virus for up to two weeks after application. The buildings must be closed to the public at the time of application.

District 3 Supervisor Hudson Holliday said that although the residual effects of the spraying can last two weeks, he suggested the work should be performed weekly to insure the safety of county employees as well as the public accessing the buildings.

The board acknowledged the first case of COVID-19 at the jail which was announced by Sheriff David Allison the day before. The county will continue to monitor the temperature and any symptons that may be present in both employees, inmates, and those who are required to come to the jail in Millard according to County Administrator Adrain Lumpkin.