Wood County Assessor’s office remains closed

PARKERSBURG, W.Va (WTAP) - The Wood County Assessor’s office remains closed today, after a second county employee tests postive for coronavirus.

County Commission President Blair Couch made that announcement at Thursday morning’s commission meeting. He says other courthouse employees are being tested as well. He says the problem with the assessor’s office will be examined over the weekend.

The Sheriff’s Tax Office, in the Judge Donald F. Black Annex, also remains closed, although its drive-through window site remains open for business.

Couch says as testing goes on, the assessor’s office will remain closed Friday. He says the county will reevaluate the situation over the weekend with Assessor David Nohe.

The courts, including the circuit clerk’s office, remained open Thursday.

The assessor’s office employees regularly work with other county offices, including the sheriff’s tax office and the county clerk’s office.

”They have done contact tracing with other offices, and they’ve been made aware,” Couch said Thursday morning. “Certain employees have been sent home and asked to get tested, and we’re trying to get our arms around this outbreak. Right now, we only have two positives. We have some people who may be showing mild symptoms, and we’re concerned about those folks.”

Couch says the county may look into other options to conduct county business, including a location on Dudley Avenue for which a lease was signed last spring. It opened for a few weeks to handle county business, but closed for lack of traffic.

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