Employees, public draw kudos for handling no air conditioning at courthouse

Employees and customers alike made the best of a bad, and hot, situation July 8 at the Etowah County Courthouse.

The water main break that disrupted service throughout the city meant there wasn’t enough water pressure to supply the chillers for the courthouse’s air conditioning unit.

That meant temperatures as high as the mid-80s inside the building, with the humidity “through the roof,” according to Probate Judge Scott Hassell.

More: Repairs completed on Gadsden water main; effort, cooperation cited in response

Hassell gave his employees the option to take a day off or take leave time, but he said all of them came in to work — something he told County Commissioners on July 9 seemed to be universal throughout the building.

He said his staff in the probate office weathered the heat to do 33 recordings (mortgages and deeds), more than 80 driver’s license renewals, five business licenses, “a stack of marriage recordings” and new boat tags. Probate court conducted three adoptions and eight other probate hearings.

“Not one complaint was heard, either from the public standing out in the hall or our employees in here working,” Hassell said.

He said he was proud of his staff for their hard work and dedication, but added, “It was encouraging for me to see how (the citizens) were taking care of each other. Someone would give up his seat to an elderly person, or share water.

“Everything you see in the news and on social media is how bad the world is,” he said. “I’m proud not only of our staff, but on the citizens of our county. We saw them taking care of each other as the business of people kept happening.”

Commission President Tim Ramsey echoed that praise. “I really appreciate our employees,” he said. “It wasn’t a happy day and it wasn’t a good day because of the heat, but I appreciate them staging with it and accomplishing all that needed to be accomplished.

“A lot of people needed what they had done (on Monday) done (that day) and not next week or some other time,” he said.

Hassell noted that County Administrative Officer Shane Ellison was a presence in the building encouraging and helping people, “and he didn’t lose his sense of humor when he declared that the heat advisory that was issued was for inside the courthouse.

“We just kept on trucking,” he said.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Employees, public draw kudos for handling no air conditioning at courthouse