Wood County Departments Update Status

Wood County departments have updated their status regarding how they are proceeding with serving the public with the end of the Safer at Home order last week. Some limitations will continue to remain in place in response to COVID-19.

Departments that have recently updated their statuses are listed directly below:

CHILD SUPPORT – Office is open to the public, effective immediately.

COUNTY CLERK – The County Clerk’s office will be open to the public starting Monday, May 18th for all services.

For vehicle registration transactions, only one person will be allowed into the office. For passport acceptance transactions, only the actual applicants (and parents if under the age of 18) will be allowed into the office. Please be mindful that social distancing will be enforced and frequent cleaning may require wait times for services.

REGISTER OF DEEDS – The Register of Deeds office will be open to the public starting Monday, May 18th.

To follow social distancing guidelines, only one customer will allowed in the lobby at one time.  The vault area will be restricted to two searchers at one time. No genealogy searches will be allowed at this time.

TREASURER – The Treasurer’s office will be open to the public starting Tuesday, May 26th.

To follow social distancing guidelines, only one customer will be allowed in the lobby at one time.  The plat map book research area will be restricted to one searcher at a time.

The departments listed below have not changed their status:

COURTS/CLERK OF COURTS – Effective immediately, the Wood County Clerk of Court Employees will be working in the office. However the office doors will be closed. To obtain information or access to the office, call 715-421-8490.

Cash payments for fines (bring exact change) may be made at the front door security station. Paper documents may be placed in the drop box outside the Clerk of Court’s office door.

 DISTRICT ATTORNEY/VICTIM WITNESS – The District Attorney’s Office and Victim/Witness Office remains open but some employees are working remotely to minimize the amount of people in our office and building for the health and well-being of our staff, other Courthouse employees, and the public.  We are permitting physical access to our interior office to law enforcement personnel only.  We encourage all other contact by telephone.

EDGEWATER HAVEN – Edgewater Haven is restricting all visitation, except for end of life situations, until further notice as mandated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

EXTENSION – Extension Wood County staff members are telecommuting and delivering programming remotely. Phone lines and emails are being monitored and responded to accordingly. Please call 715-421-8440 and leave a message or visit https://wood.extension.wisc.edu/staff-directory/ for specific staff contact information.

FINANCE – Finance Dept. employees will be working from home for the majority of the time.  You can reach them via email.

HEALTH DEPT.

Immunizations

Immunizations will not be offered until further notice.

Communicable Disease Follow-up

Client follow-up will occur via phone and telehealth options.

Family Health and Injury Prevention

Client visits will occur via phone and telehealth options.

Tuberculosis

The tuberculosis program will continue to serve clients with minimal disruption. Specifically:

• Client visits will occur via phone and telehealth options.
• TB medications will be delivered to clients.
• Initial visits for new clients will be conducted in-person at the client’s home with staff wearing protective equipment.
• TB medications will continue to be delivered.

Food Safety / Licensed Establishments

The Licensed Establishment program will focus on maintaining essential services such as:

• Emergency response and foodborne illness investigations.
• Complaints of a serious public health concern.
• Outreach for compliance necessary to protect public health.

Priority services will continue with special attention placed on working with our food establishment operators such as:

• Contact by phone in order to support and educate on COVID-19 orders and new requirements.
• Answer questions and concerns about implementing the required changes.
• Provide focused food safety visits on the phone to food establishments.
• Onsite inspections only when social distancing can be maintained
• Pre-inspections for new establishments

WIC Program

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus) our WIC clinic is closed. Staff are available by phone for appointments and questions. If you have a scheduled appointment, you will receive a phone call from WIC on the day of the appointment. WIC benefits will be loaded onto your WIC card at the time of the phone call. Please contact the clinic with any questions.

Laboratory Services

The Lab will be reducing testing services. Specifically:

• The lab will stop receiving private water samples from the public until further notice. Current samples will be processed.
• Some project water samples (Water Utility) will continue to be analyzed.
• Lab staff will be available if emergency water testing is needed.

HIGHWAY DEPT. – The Wood County Highway Department is limiting visitors to Highway facilities to those who have essential business transactions with the department.

HUMAN RESOURCES – The Human Resources Department remains open for business via telephone and email. We are continuing to recruit for open positions. A list of current openings can be found at: https://careers.co.wood.wi.us/CyberWeb/. Human Resources can be reached from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at 715-421-8457 or [email protected].

HUMAN SERVICES – Wood County Human Services will continue to serve the public through the use of video technology, phone, and email. Also, Wood County Human Services will see a very limited amount of individuals by appointment only. The following services are offered by appointment; emergency mental health crisis appointments, appointments to pick up medications, appointments for prescription injections, emergency FoodShare cards, and mail pick-up for individuals who use River Block as their primary address.

Individuals who have an appointment will be screened prior to their meeting. Wood County Human Services has a lockbox available for customers to drop off documents without entering the building. Examples of documents include applications for assistance, verifications for assistance, or any other necessary correspondence. This lockbox will be checked three times each day so that documents can be processed timely. In addition, if customers need the documents returned, they will be asked to request the originals be mailed back to them. Once the documents are processed, a staff person will make copies and return the original by mail. Please contact our office at 715-421-8600 with any questions.

LAND & WATER CONSERVATION – The Land & Water Conservation office has closed their public service counter in River Block, but remains fully staffed and available via telephone and email. Individuals needing assistance will be seen by appointment only.

NORWOOD HEALTH CENTER – Norwood is restricted to essential health care personnel only, no visitors allowed without Administrative approval.

PARKS & FORESTRY DEPT. – Office is closed to the public.  Please see link below.  http://www.co.wood.wi.us/CurrentEvents.aspx?BlogPostID=645

 PLANNING & ZONING – The Planning & Zoning office has closed their public service counter in the Courthouse but remains fully staffed to answer questions or information needs of the public via telephone, email, and fax.

SHERIFF’S DEPT. – The Wood County Sheriff’s Department is taking measures similar to other law enforcement agencies while interacting with the public. Many non-emergency calls for service will be handled by phone to reduce deputy/citizen contacts during this virus containment time.

VETERAN SERVICES – The Veteran Service Offices remain operational but will no longer accept walk-ins, scheduled appointments, or other in-person services. We will serve the public though telephone, email, fax, and the US Mail until further notice. (Wisconsin Rapids & Marshfield offices)

If you have questions on whether the department you wish to visit is still open, please give them a call at their number provided on the Wood County website (http://www.co.wood.wi.us/ ). This listing will be updated as needed on both the Wood County website and Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/WoodCoWisc/ ).