Pandemic requires changes in many courthouse jobs


In response to the covid-19 pandemic, Ozark County Associate Circuit Judge taped arrows on the floor and stairway walls of the courthouse to indicate where people should stand while waiting to enter the courtroom. Times photo/Jessi Dreckman

Ozark County Circuit Clerk and Recorder Becki Strong said most people who come to her office to check in for court hearings or appearances, or for property documents or other matters, have seemed appreciative about the covid-pandemic precautions her office now follows, as specified by Missouri Supreme Court directives. Photo by Abby Milligan

Editor’s note: Gainesville High School 2020 graduate Abby Milligan, now a first year-year student in the University of Missouri School of Journalism, completed an internship at the Ozark County Times during her holiday break.

 

When Ray Gross was elected associate circuit judge in 2018, he never imagined that one of his jobs would be marking arrows on the floor, 6 feet apart, with colored paper and a roll of tape. But when the covid-19 virus reached the Ozark County Courthouse, court officials and county employees, including Gross, found themselves making changes in their offices and procedures that had never been necessary before. 

The changes have evolved since March 2020, when the Missouri Supreme Court, seeking to protect those involved in the courts from the contagious virus, handed down a ruling describing a “phase” program that Missouri courts would follow, beginning with Phase 0, which was a complete court lockdown. That meant everything other than a select few cases of the utmost importance was to be put on hold. 

During the Phase 0 lockdown, almost no in-person court proceedings were held, and the jobs of many who work for the courts or the county were greatly altered.  “There’s never been anything like this in my almost 20 years of practicing law,” Gross said.

The judge explained that for everyone from judges to everyday citizens, the slowing of court processes affected daily life. “If you’re a landlord, that could mean that your tenant that’s not paying rent can stay on the premises for another 30 days. If you’re collecting debt, it means you can’t collect on your debt for another 30 days,” he said. 

The backlog of cases accumulating during the pandemic’s earliest days meant added difficulties down the road for other court and county employees. In May, Ozark County Court moved into Phase 1, which meant that some limited in-person court cases could be heard. 

Then, in early June, Ozark County was cleared to move into Phase 2, allowing more non-pressing court proceedings to be heard in person. That change meant the many postponed cases that had accumulated could be handled – and, for Ozark County Circuit Clerk and Recorder of Deeds Becki Strong, it meant a lot more to manage.   

“It was pretty tough days. There were days that there would be court every day,” said Strong. She not only had a quickly growing stack of new work to handle during these early weeks of the reopening, but she also had to stand at the door to contact-trace and health-monitor anyone entering the courthouse for court. 

Those last two procedures continue: Anyone entering the courthouse on any day for hearings or other court appearances must approach a table where they are asked if they have any symptoms of covid-19 or if they’ve come into contact with anyone who has. Then their temperature is taken and their name and phone number are recorded. This information is kept for six weeks, allowing court officials to contact them if anyone who attended court that day does end up having undetected covid.

While holding this responsibility on top of typical caseloads can be difficult for court employees, help has been offered from the Ozark County Health Department. “They did an excellent job of helping us,” said Strong.  

Other new guidelines have also been implemented, including required social distancing and masks being worn in all common areas, including the courtroom. 

“I literally put arrows on the courthouse floor every 6.1 feet,” said Gross. “If we get to the limit of people allowed in [the courtroom], they know where to stand and still be more than 6 feet apart. Those marks are still there and will likely be there through the end of the pandemic.”  

The judge also implemented the requirement that masks be worn in his courtroom. Aside from a few mild instances, Gross said no one has protested the new mask rule. “I wear one, even though I am more than 6 feet from everyone in the room. It sets a good example,” he said.   

Strong said citizens who have come to the recorder’s office and been met with guarded doors and masks as “appreciative.” At first, she said, she and her staff met with a bit of reluctance on the court-goers’ part when asked for their phone numbers, but after explaining that it was for their protection and the information would be destroyed after six weeks, there has been almost complete cooperation.   

Ozark County Public Administrator Melinda Abraham said her clients have also handled the adjustments reasonably well. The majority of her clients are elderly and have significant health issues, making the need for strenuous rules regarding covid even more important, Abraham said. She says clients living in nursing homes have been adhering well to the new, strange rules and understand the need.  

Those living alone or with a single caretaker are being hit harder, and working from afar to help keep their mental health in a good spot is a new addition to her duties. “I see the change in them more, their mental health: depression, and not being able to get out and do what they normally do, I’ve noticed.”   

In normal times before the pandemic, Abraham would regularly visit her clients to talk about their health, quality of care and mental state, or just to visit or sometimes giving them rides to appointments. Now, of course, that’s all been halted. Instead, Abraham has been doing video calls or having cameras placed to monitor some clients’ well-being. However, she knows that online Zoom calls can’t replace the real thing.

Abraham says she misses being able to have physical contact with “my people,” as she describes them. “They want hugs, they want to see me and put their hands on me, and I want to do the same with them. It’s been very, very hard not to do that. We need it, as humans.”  

For almost everyone, the lack of social connection has been a significant challenge in the past year, not only professionally but personally. “Everything takes more time. Everything takes longer, the days are longer, the routines are all interrupted,” said Gross. “We all get in a groove. In our lives we all get in grooves that are comfortable.... These little micro-stressors result from being out of your groove...and that’s happening all across the country.”  

Strong shared the same thoughts about the changes, noting that they have been very time-consuming. “It slowed everything down. Most of the state offices we work with were able to work remotely from home, but we can’t really do that in this area. There’s not good internet,” she said.

Above all, Gross, Abraham and Strong all described the most significant struggle for them as not being able to see their own family and friends as they please. However, Gross finished by saying, “I don’t want to suggest to you that this is a complaint, because, quite frankly, the people working in nursing homes and hospitals deserve medals compared to what I’ve had to endure.”  

Personally and professionally, the pandemic has impacted these court and county employees, but they have found ways to adapt and provide the best service possible. With Ozark County residents’ continued support, they hope to keep improving the experience for everyone. 

Ozark County Times

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