FARMINGTON — The Franklin County Courthouse, where most county government offices are located, will reopen to the public on Thursday, June 11.
The hours will be 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. One change is the Commissioners Office will be reduced to four days a week. It will be open Monday through Thursday, county Clerk Julie Magoon told commissioners Friday. The office has been short-staffed because of COVID-19 concerns. The office will be open to the public, by appointment only, Monday through Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. To make an appointment call 207-778-6614.
All other offices will be open five days a week. The Assistant District Attorney’s Office will open on June 15, and will be open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
With the courthouse opening on Thursday, the county Budget Advisory Committee’s meeting will be open to the public in the upstairs Superior Courtroom. It starts at 5:30 p.m.
The committee will review department budgets, including the detention center, Sheriff’s Office, communications center, deeds, probate, debt service and insurance.
Magoon said she is trying to follow what the state courts are doing for COVID-19 guidelines so that the rules are consistent. The state is requiring people to wear face masks when they come into the courts. So people coming into the county courthouse will need to wear masks, she said.
The same goes for people who attend the budget committee meeting. The maximum amount of people who will be allowed in is 50, as outlined in the governor’s restrictions. Officials are working on how to arrange the room so that people will be socially distant.
There will be other ways for the public to listen in or view the meeting. There will be options of teleconference, possibly Zoom, and if Mt. Blue TV can get setup, they will live stream the meeting on Facebook. The meeting will also be recorded.
Commissioners voted Friday to spend $5,000 for Mt. Blue to cover the commissioners meetings and budget meetings. The money is to pay for extra staff, closed captioning and extra meetings.
There was a request from a resident to make accommodations for closed captioning under the federal Americans With Disabilities Act, Magoon told commissioners prior to the vote.
The towns of Farmington, Jay and Wilton give the cable franchise fees to Mt. Blue TV to cover each town’s meetings.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.