By Conrad Dudderar
Senior Staff Writer
EL RENO – Glass dividers will be installed at several Canadian County offices to reduce the risk of citizens and county employees getting the coronavirus.
Canadian County Commissioners have hired an Oklahoma City company to install the glass barriers several feet high above front counters in the lobby of the county administration building, 201 N Choctaw; the county clerk’s office, county commissioners’ office, district court clerk’s office, and election board office.
Commissioners, at their weekly meeting Monday morning, awarded a $14,079 low bid to Metro Glass. A second bid, for $25,950, was submitted by Piedmont Glass.
“We’d like to move in a timely fashion just because of the safety implications,” Canadian County Commission Chairman Marc Hader said. “They will start as soon as they can.”
“It will be a tall vertical glass with an aluminum enclosure,” Hader said.
Each glass divider will be about 39 inches tall – 6 inches above the countertop – with a hole to speak through, according to county maintenance supervisor Chris Jackson.
Metro Glass has been asked to match type of glass, metal and color already installed at the county treasurer’s office.
Canadian County is among counties across Oklahoma under an emergency disaster declaration due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Social distancing and “shelter at home” restrictions have been established statewide.
35 CASES IN CANADIAN COUNTY
There have been 35 positive COVID-19 cases and one confirmed death in Canadian County through Monday, according to the Oklahoma State Health Department.
Seven counties have had more positive cases than Canadian. Statewide, there have been 1,327 cases and 51 deaths reported.
While Canadian County offices remain open, citizens are encouraged to conduct county business by phone, mail or email when possible. Some county employees are working from home.
With the candidate filing period for Canadian County offices this Wednesday through Friday, county officials hope to install partitions at the election board first.
“If the glass cannot be installed there in a timely fashion, our maintenance staff use Lexan plexiglass to create a temporary barrier to provide protection,” Chairman Hader said.
In other business at Monday’s meeting, Canadian County Commissioners approved:
- Removing three vendors from the county bid list that have not responded to three successive solicitations – M&D Equipment, Darr Equipment and Bruckner Truck.
- Advertising for bids for an excavator in District 2. After recently rejecting bids for a used excavator, District 2 Commissioner David Anderson said he changed the specifications to allow vendors to submit bids for “smaller and newer machines.”
- An annual agreement between the commissioners and Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Wildlife Services Division for wildlife damage management activities.
Canadian County Sheriff Chris West reported on the county jail inmate population, which has dropped to 130.
