BY JUSTIN SABATA
During Monday’s meeting, the Ellis County Commission made the decision to open county offices to regular hours Tuesday morning, excluding the Ellis County Courthouse.
This comes as a response to phase one of Gov. Laura Kelly’s recent “Ad Astra” executive order, which removed the statewide stay-at-home order but includes a mass gathering limit of 10 people.
Though Ellis County offices will be opened, First District Commissioner Butch Schlyer advised employees to still err on the side of caution.
“I would just encourage all employees to assess their own risk,” Schlyer said. “And, do whatever precautions they deem as necessary.”
Schlyer also encouraged Ellis County department leaders to take appropriate measures when needed.
“Just use sound judgement, and let’s see what happens,” Schlyer said.
Kansas counties, according to the governor’s order, are allowed to apply more restrictions to public proceedings but are not allowed to apply less than what the order requires. Each of the three commissioners agreed not to apply any more restrictions to Ellis County.
Certain businesses are also allowed to reopen as long as they adhere to the executive order guidelines. Those guidelines include a 6-foot distance between customers and no more than 10 patrons at a time. However, businesses that encourage mass gatherings, such as bars and movie theatres, are still not allowed to reopen.
More information on the current phase of the executive order, as well as other state COVID-19 resources, are available at https://covid.ks.gov/.