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Discussion regarding possible action on a courthouse policy and procedures regarding the move into Phase III of the COVID-19 reopening plan was held at the Washington County Commissioners meeting on Monday morning.

District Judge Linda Thomas said they need to get as close to normal as they can at the Washington County Courthouse for the people that need to be there. She said it is going to take everyone to come up with a plan to make that happen.

The hope is to open the courthouse on Monday, June 15th. That goal might change if COVID-19 case numbers spike. The Washington County Clerk's Office, the County Assessor's Office and the County Treasurer's Office also hopes to open on Monday, June 15th.

Two tents were provided by Washington County Emergency Management so arraignments could progress virtually in the parking lot between the courthouse and the Administration Building in downtown Bartlesville. One tent will be used on June 3rd, June 12th, June 17th, June 24th and June 26th for the benefit of the court system.

Lt. Jonathan Robertson said they will need to closely monitor those tents because they had trouble with an individual sleeping in one of the tents in recent weeks. He said they saw this occur on security footage, and the individual was said to be in the tent for an hour and a half. The hope is to prevent vandalism to the tent.

Judge Thomas said she still anticipates that they will be able to allow more people into the Washington County Courthouse in the next couple of weeks. She said they are also looking to manage the docket sizes so they do not have a horde of people at the courthouse at one time.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court continues to recommend the wearing of masks in the facility. Judge Thomas said she has heard some complaints about the masks and access to the courthouse. She said it is her sole responsibility / authority is to manage the court system itself.

Commissioner Mitch Antle said the district judges through the directives they receive from the Oklahoma Supreme Court are establishing docket sizes and trying to mitigate what they can as the court process continue to re-open. From a facility standpoint, Commissioner Antle asked if there was anything the judges needed form the Commissioners, the Washington County Sheriff's Office, Washington County Emergency Management, or Facility Management to help with that process.

In the long-term, Judge Thomas said they could probably do a better job in sanitizing the courthouse. She said people from all walks of life come into the building and they touch everything. Sanitizing the building at least once a day is what Judge Thomas recommended, whether it be for COVID-19 or the flu.

The Commissioners and other members of Washington County's governing body have been discussing the integration of a personnel policy that focuses on infectious disease protocols. Commissioner Antle said COVID-19 does not happen every year, but they are going to have some sort of illness that goes around every year that they can address with an elaborate infectious disease policies. He said this would be for the safety of Washington County staff members and the public the come in contact with on a daily basis in the future. There will always be some level of mitigation that is necessary to help with infectious disease.

The 10 person capacity in a courtroom (as directed by the Oklahoma Supreme Court) has worked well on the second floor courtrooms in the Washington County Courthouse, but Judge Thomas said it does not work out as well in their bigger courtroom on the third floor. She said she does not want to micromanage the judges and what they do with their dockets.

The judges should know their docket and they should know what is appropriate in the courtroom. For example, Judge Thomas said she had an occasion last week in Nowata County where she needed 12 people in the courtroom, so she let them in. She said she trusts her fellow judges to make the right call on a day-to-day basis.

Later in the discussion, Washington County Emergency Management Director Kary Cox said disinfectant spray can leave residue on surfaces over time if those surfaces are not cleaned as well. He said some of that residue is good, because it continues to work hours after it has been applied. Some courthouses in Oklahoma have used this to mop their floors because it has a residual effect.

Cox said they might be able to go to more traditional disinfecting methods soon. He said they may be getting close to containing the coronavirus, so they might be able to use Lysol sprays that do not leave residues. As more research comes out, Cox said they are finding out that COVID-19 might not survive as long on hard surfaces, so disinfecting an entire room might not be necessary.

UV lighting is known to be effective against the novel coronavirus as well as mold spores and more. Cox said putting the UV treatment in the return air ducts in the building may accomplish as much if not more of what they have already accomplished with disinfectants.

Sheriff Scott Owen said foot traffic has been greatly restricted if not completely eliminated at the Washington County Courthouse. He said the Sheriff's Office does have an ample supply of personal protective equipment to keep them safe from the virus as well. Lobby visitation could potentially open up at the Washington County Detention Center on Monday, June 15th.

The jail is starting to see a slight rise in its population. Sheriff Owen told the Commissioners on Monday that they have made more arrests throughout Washington County outside of Bartlesville lately. He said he agreed with Judge Thomas in the fact that the time is coming where they should consider getting back to normal operations at the Detention Center and the Washington County Courthouse.

No action was taken during the discussion on Monday morning.