Staff Reports
The Bartholomew County Assessor’s office in the County Government Building is closing for two weeks after an employee there tested positive for COVID-19 and the remaining staff members are entering quarantine at home.
Bartholomew County Assessor Ginny Whipple said all office telephone communication will be forwarded to her cell phone as she works from home along with the other quarantined employees. She said the employee who tested positive appears to be recovering at this time.
As a result of the closing, the sales reports that The Republic publishes will be not be available for the next two weeks. However, all sales reports will resume publication at the beginning of December, including those that are processed during the next two weeks by employees working from home.
Sales disclosures can be filed electronically at www.simplifile.com and real property information is available on the GIS at www.bartholomew.in.gov, Whipple said.
The assessor’s office has 11 employees, including Whipple, who are under the quarantine.
Whipple hopes to reopen the office in the county government office building at 440 Third St. on Nov. 30 with employees returning at that time.
All other county offices, including the recorder’s office which works closely with the assessor’s office, are maintaining their work schedules at the office building, county officials said.
Access to the Bartholomew County Courthouse and county office building has been limited since the COVID-19 pandemic began with limited to no public access allowed in the building except for court hearings or transactions that cannot be handled online.
This is the second major development related to COVID-19 infection for Bartholomew County in the past two weeks.
Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers has tested positive for the virus and is recovering at home, county officials said.
County commissioner Larry Kleinhenz said Monday that there are also a couple of county employees who are awaiting test results and one employee who is quarantining.
County employees from the IT and maintenance departments, while not required to fully quarantine, should “isolate themselves as much as possible,” he said.
“The last thing we would need right now is to have our IT department or our maintenance department come down with a couple of positive tests,” he said.
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Sales disclosures can be filed electronically at www.simplifile.com and real property information is available on the GIS at www.bartholomew.in.gov.
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