Counties Provide Frontline Services During Pandemic

Federal funding critical to assist counties in providing public health and emergency response during COVID-19 
North Dakota county employees are on the front lines of the response to the coronavirus pandemic. The services of county public health, corrections, human services, law enforcement, elections and general government have all been impacted and most of those impacts have a significant fiscal component.

CARES Act Reimbursement to Counties County officials are pleased that the Governor’s Office, through OMB and DES, is providing an avenue for these costs to be addressed by the Emergency Commission and Budget Section. County emergency managers and county auditors are working feverishly to get all costs incurred from March 1st through May 31st submitted into the FEMA grants system as well as the newly created OMB-Cares Act portal, in anticipation of the mid-June Emergency Commission meeting. County costs include staff overtime, PPE, sanitization of jails and other facilities, telework facilitation, secure ballot boxes and so much more.

Some costs associated with specific state agencies are being handled through state requests – notably public health support by Department of Health, human service overtime by Department of Human Services, and the holding of state prisoners in county jails by Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Reimbursing these unforeseen costs is so critical at a time when each county, like the state, is already experiencing revenue reductions due to the pandemic. Long-term, the reductions in State Aid Distribution, Highway Distribution, and Gross Production Tax (GPT) revenues will be devastating to the county services on which our citizens rely.

Below is an overview of some of the pressing county issues and activities related to COVID-19.
Local Public Health Staff Play Key Role in Community Testing and Contact Tracing During this unprecedented public health emergency, our local public health units have been working in cooperation with the state to mitigate COVID-19. Local public health staff play a vital role in contact tracing in the state as well as coordinate and assist with mass COVID-19 testing events. They are working with local leaders and businesses to meet the Governor’s Smart Restart guidelines by providing recommended guidance to those in their communities. Like many others, local health units have had to purchase additional equipment. Due to the concentration on conducting testing events and contact tracing, local public health is seeing additional costs for overtime, while foregoing much of their usual fee revenue from services they have been forced to suspend.

State Inmates Overcrowding County Jails

The North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation suspended admissions of inmates on March 13th, which led to local facilities holding state-sentenced inmates who would normally be transferred to DOCR. Since this closure, local jail facilities have housed 134 state-sentenced inmates. The state has approved CARES funding for DOCR to reimburse counties for their cost to hold these inmates, which totals approximately $590,000. But the real issue is how the DOCR closure of admissions has put a strain on the operations of our local facilities and made it difficult for them to have the space necessary to segregate inmates. The COVID-19 threat is even greater for our jails as they continue to have new arrests brought into the facility. Counties have taken actions to reduce population to allow for isolation of new inmates and have changed their policies and procedures to ensure the safety of officers and inmates. NDACo has worked with jail administrators in holding meetings with DOCR on this issue to urge the reopening of admissions. DOCR has scheduled to transfer some of the inmates starting the first week in June. NDACo is currently working with jail administrators, local public health administrators and state partners in scheduling COVID testing at all local jail facilities.

Vote by Mail Only for June Election

To best protect voters and election workers, the June election will be Vote by Mail only. At the request of the North Dakota County Auditors Association, Governor Doug Burgum issued Executive Order 2020-13 on March 26th, which allows counties to authorize Vote by Mail only. This order suspended the requirement for counties to have at least one physical polling location. Counties in all 53 counties adopted Vote by Mail as the only method to conduct the June election. NDACo has worked closely with auditors on an outreach plan. We encourage you to check out NDACo’s Facebook page and share the election materials. The key message is to get voters to return their ballots. As of May 29th, only 40% of the 178,000 ballots sent to voters have been returned.

Courthouse Access The important work of our counties continued during the pandemic. However, every county restricted public access to the courthouse. Many implemented by-appointment-only entry, with individuals entering being screened. In response to CDC recommendations, counties also used alternative methods for their commission meetings, such as conference calls and/or web-based applications. Several counties have decided to continue with restricting access through the June 9th election to best protect county employees focused on the election work. We expect our counties to be reevaluating their access during their June meetings.