Commissioners Opt to Open Courthouse in Two Weeks

The Board of Osage County Commissioners met for a regularly scheduled meeting at the Fairgrounds in Pawhuska on Monday morning. The main topic of discussion was what to do about opening the courthouse and all other county-owned buildings back up to the public.


Osage County Emergency Manager Jerry Roberts recommended that the commissioners begin allowing all employees back into their respective offices on Tuesday and open it to the public on Thursday. District one commissioner Randall Jones said he would be in favor of opening the building back up to the public on Monday, May 11th. Judge Stuart Tate said the Oklahoma Supreme Court has ruled that dockets won't resume until Monday, May 18th.


Tate went on to say that it is important to have time for all offices find a way to control the traffic going in and out of the courthouse and they need to have a plan in place to properly sanitize the building throughout the day. After hearing these things, District three commissioner Darren McKinney made a motion to allow employees back in the buildings so that they could make those necessary plans and open the building up to the public on Monday, May 18th. That motion carried with a 3-0 vote.


There was also discussion on when to go about allowing events to resume on county-owned property. Roberts made a recommendation to allow this resumption on Wednesday with social distancing guidelines in place. The commissioners agreed upon that recommendation.


The commissioners signed a yearly agreement with PSO to use the Fairgrounds as a staging area in case there is a major disaster. This is for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. They also renewed the emergency performance grant for 2020.


The next regularly scheduled Board of Osage County Commissioners meeting will be next Monday at 10 o' clock in the morning. Even with employees returning to work, meetings will continue to take place at the Fairgrounds until further notice.