Collector’s Office to Open Friday, after Quarantine, Summary of Called Quorum Court Meeting
July 7th, 2020 by Joe Burgess
After a special called Quorum Court meeting, Monday night, to discuss consequences and possible repercussions of the county tax collector’s office/staff quarantine following a COVID-19 exposure in the courthouse, here are some of the highlights of that meeting.
County collector Tonya Loveless did not attend the meeting, in person, but did take part by zoom, represented by her attorney, Brian Johnson of Hot Springs.
County attorney Cliff Gibson was present, explaining multiple aspects of the situation to the quorum court, at different times.
The attorneys “squared off“ multiple times during the meeting, over facts, interpretations, and characterizations of events.
Early in the meeting, JP Rene Knowles made a motion to allow Loveless and her staff to return to work after their 14 day quarantine. The vote on that motion, which was interrupted by a 30 minute discussion, was eventually approved by an 8-1 margin.
Attorney Gibson explained to Knowles and the other court members, that since Judge Robert Akin was responsible for county property, specifically the courthouse, their vote really didn’t override his decisions.
Early in the meeting, possible inaccuracies of the Covid testing were highlighted, especially by attorney Johnson.
Later in the meeting, exceptions to the alleged “100% accuracy” preventing Covid exposure of the 14 day quarantine, were also discussed. It was documented that there are still positive tests, after a full quarantine.
Since Judge Akin had originally stated that Loveless and her staff could either take a test or quarantine, they will be returning to work on Friday, for Loveless, and Monday, for her staff.
Residents should be able to pay their county taxes and related business, Friday at 8 AM.
It is expected that in the future any county employees that experience Covid exposure will be required to take the Covid test, without the option of a 14 day “vacation“, as it was described in the meeting.
Judge Akin described one of his concerns being, future exposures of Covid in the courthouse could result in a potential “full closure” of the courthouse, due to all office staff taking 14 day quarantines, instead of the Covid test.
We expect video of the meeting to be posted soon.
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Joe I would appreciate if you put a video up. That you would put it in its entirety, no editing. That would be fair to all.
Response: I only edited out the dead spots caused by zoom and telephone issues. The full content of the meeting is included in the videos.