Some face-to-face services resumed Thursday in offices in the Dallas County Courthouse, but the new procedures are different from the pre-pandemic days of business as usual.
The Dallas County Clerk of Court’s office and courtrooms are still open for criminal and emergency cases that cannot be conducted by videoconference or telephone. Non-jury trials are scheduled to resume July 13, and jury trials will begin Sept. 14.
The Dallas County Board of Supervisors approved a COVID-19 precautions policy Tuesday morning, gently “suggesting” that departments should resume face-to-face services May 28 and “encouraging” public visitors to wear face masks when inside county facilities but without making face masks mandatory.
Dallas County Public Health Director Suzanne Suzanne advised the supervisors against requiring face masks be worn by public visitors to county buildings.
“We would highly encourage the use of face masks,” Hegarty said, “but you run into issues. There are people who cannot wear them due to disabilities or other issues, and then you have to write in exceptions. So as far as the policy statement goes, it probably makes more sense to highly encourage them but not require them.”
Dallas County Attorney Chuck Sinnard said that requiring the public to comply with “intrusive” restrictions, such as face masks, would be best accomplished by means of a temporary regulation passed by the Dallas County Board of Health or a temporary ordinance approved by the supervisors.
Non-intrusive restrictions, such as requiring visitors to make appointments for in-person services or to social distance when inside county buildings, would not need to be fortified with a temporary regulation or ordinance, Sinnard said.
Kim Chapman of Adel, who currently chairs both the Dallas County Board of Supervisors and the Dallas County Board of Health, led neither body to approve any temporary regulations or ordinances making face masks mandatory for visitors.
“I personally refuse to be controlled by fear,” Chapman said. “However, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use wisdom in our decision-making process.”
At Tuesday’s supervisors meeting, Chapman said he did not see the wisdom in the plan by Dallas County Treasurer Mitch Hambleton to begin requiring appointments for face-to-face motor-vehicle transactions.
Although the COVID-19 precautions policy was passed by the board with the approval of Supervisors Brad Golightly and Mark Hanson, Chapman voted against the policy because of Hambleton’s appointment-only plan.
“I am not okay with a plan that allows county business to be conducted by appointment only,” Chapman said after Tuesday’s board meeting, “especially when some departments plan to establish this policy well into the future with no ending date in sight. This type of ongoing policy will create inefficiencies and difficulties for some of the Dallas County citizens in their effort to conduct business with Dallas County.”
Hambleton said the appointment-only system will not only protect the health of the public by minimizing people’s congregating in the courthouse corridors but will also increase the efficiency of his office.
“We can’t have 30 people standing in the corridor of the courthouse waiting to get in,” Hambleton said. “By them having an appointment, I can minimize the number of people and the cross-exposure that they might have within the courthouse as well as better managing their time. Instead of just showing up and potentially waiting for an hour, they would have an appointment, show up at that appointment time and be able to be serviced within 15 minutes.”
An $8,000 enhancement module will be added to the treasurer’s Qmatic automated queuing system that will permit the public to schedule appointments online. Hambleton said the Iowa Department of Transportation uses the Qmatic system and Linn and Scott counties are implementing it now. In the meantime, next-day appointments can be made by telephone at 515-993-5812 from 1-4 p.m.
By requiring all motor vehicle registration renewals to be transacted either online or by using the courthouse drop box or going through the mail, and by making all motor vehicle title transactions by appointment only, Hambleton said he expects to reduce the in-person traffic in his office from the pre-pandemic rate of about 200 people a day to about 70 in-person title transactions a day.
Thursday ran smoothly, he said, with 57 customers served at an average wait time of three minutes.
“I anticipate that appointments will be a way of life for the foreseeable future,” Hambleton said. “We realize that it is kind of a pain to make an appointment for everything, but the upside is that, with the appointment, we should be able to serve you on a timelier basis. We will be modifying our processes going forward and will add an on-line appointment scheduling capability with text message notification over the course of the next month.”
Scott Politte, president of Stivers Ford Lincoln in Waukee, said he supported the proposed online-appointment system. He said the system would “bring the treasurer’s office into the 21st century” and permit the efficient management of dealer traffic in fast-growing Dallas County.
The Dallas County Recorder’s office will resume in-person services by appointment only beginning Monday, June 1, allowing for face-to-face processing of vital records requests, marriage applications, Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) vehicle registrations and real estate recording.
With the U.S. State Department Passport Agency currently closed, the Dallas County Recorder is not able to provide U.S. Passport services but will resume the services by appointment only once the federal agency reopens. Additionally, the county recorder will no longer issue hunting and fishing licenses.
“These services have never been a requirement of the office and were always provided as a convenience for our residents,” said Dallas County Recorder Chad Airhart. “We encourage the public to utilize many of the private businesses — hardware stores and sporting goods stores — throughout the county and across the state that provide these services.”
To schedule an appointment with the Dallas County Recorder’s office, call 515-993-5804.
County residents are reminded that driver’s licenses in Dallas County are issued by the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT). The Dallas County Treasurer’s office is unable to answer any questions related to driver’s license appointments, requirements or any other driver’s license matter, and all driver’s license questions should be directed to the DOT. The number for the Waukee DOT office is 515- 452-0501.
