The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted everyone to find innovative ways to continue on while limiting the spread of the disease. McKean County is no different.
Last week McKean County President Judge John Pavlock found himself conducting court from an unusual location: the Good Growing Gardens (3G) classroom. He moved from the courthouse to the community service facility after having direct exposure to someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
“I want the citizens to know that there has been a sense of cooperation at the courthouse to continue our work for the citizens of the County,” Pavlock noted. “All departments have worked together to get things done through some difficult times.”
Pavlock had no symptoms as of Friday afternoon. However, he is still quarantining for 14 days — last week and this week — as he does not want to risk spreading COVID-19.
“Because my Internet at home is not great we came up with a plan for me to be at the 3G Barn for this week and next week; and, to have community service activities occur elsewhere,” he explained.
“I am the only one here and the 3G Classroom will be sanitized when I leave. There is internet access here and a polycom unit so I can handle all matters that I would have handled had I been at the courthouse. Court staff has made sure that I have all I need. Security can monitor the Barn area through the use of video cameras and the internet.”
Pavlock said it took several people to make it work, including court staff, county IT, Adult Probation and Community Service Coordinator Mike Barnard did to make this work.
“We are doing everything we can to process cases and prevent a backlog,” he said.
The court has already taken steps to do as much virtually as possible and discourage in-person contact.
Pavlock explained that the county upgraded its technology and internet in March to prepare for staff working out of the office. They use a video conferencing program called Lifesize to hold many court appointments.
In addition to using Lifesize for county court, Court Administrator Joanne Bly said the program is used by the four magisterial district judges, McKean County Jail and the Family Law/Domestic Relations Office. She said they started using the Lifesize program around March 20.
Bly provided some numbers to show how much in-person contact McKean County has prevented by using the Lifesize: In the past year, McKean County has made 12,240 calls with Lifesize for a total of 447,036 minutes.
By The Era’s calculations, that’s the same as 7,450 hours and 36 minutes.
“It has worked extremely well,” Pavlock said of the program. “I am so proud of the efforts staff has made to not miss a beat, to have the ability to function remotely and begin doing so early on, back in late March. We have processed hundreds of cases since then and will continue to address what is coming in. We also implemented protocols to keep staff and the citizens who utilize the court system safe. We cannot eliminate all risk but we have been able to find new ways to do things to minimize the risk.”
As far as others at the courthouse who may have been in quarantine, Pavlock could not speak for all the departments. However, he did say, “The court has had some staff quarantine due to exposure, COVID symptoms and limited positive tests.”
