Photo submitted to Times Observer Dividers created by the Warren County Maintenance Department stand in the Main Courtroom at Warren County Courthouse.

In terms of work, COVID-19 has meant different things for different people.

Warren County Courthouse shut down from March 19 through May 4.

Some operations slowed. Some shut down. Others kept up at normal or even elevated pace.

The two-person maintenance office was in the latter category.

Maintenance Director Matt Nordin and Maintenance Tech Randy Haley found plenty of new work to add to their ongoing responsibilities. In fact there were two projects that took more than a month each.

“I stayed on the whole time,” Nordin said. Haley, who is part-time, “put in a lot of hours just to get things done.”

When Gov. Tom Wolf and the Department of Health came out with guidelines for offices during the pandemic, the courthouse needed some work.

“April was building the dividers for the countertops,” Nordin said. “We made the Plexiglas barriers for the counters and desks between the public and the workers.”

It wasn’t a one-size-fits-all project. Many of the 25-or-so wood-framed dividers are very different.

“There is a lot of variety,” Nordin said. “Some were suspended from the ceiling. We had to modify the design for each office.”

It wasn’t enough that the dividers stand up and do the minimum required by the state. They took pride in making sure their work was appropriate to the courthouse’s business.

“It has to look professional – respectable,” he said.

Finding materials for the dividers had been a concern. Demand was high. Every business was in much the same boat and was looking for materials for dividers, but a local company stepped up. “We got all the Plexiglas through Warren Glass,” Nordin said. “They were great to work with.”

The dividers had to be done before the row officers and many other employees returned to the courthouse.

Haley’s “hours were all going toward making the dividers,” Nordin said.

The daily business of keeping a courthouse, a jail, a warehouse, an annex building that houses a 911 center, and three magisterial district judge’s offices, wasn’t going away.

“The stuff they’ve done has been amazing,” Commissioner Jeff Eggleston said. “When I came back and all this carpentry was done, I was flabbergasted. They work they’ve done has been above and beyond.”

When the divider project was complete, the COVID-related work slowed for a while.

On July 15, Nordin and Haley received another assignment.

“That was the date I got the work order that the courts wanted 30 partitions for jury selection on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1,” Nordin said.

Court Administrator Linda Critzer gave him a general explanation of what was needed, but not a detailed blueprint.

See DIVIDERS / A-3

The partitions would be needed in the Main Courtroom for jury selection and in the Jackson Courtroom for the actual jury. “We had to make them so no matter where they went they would work,” Nordin said.

Each seat was to have a three-sided Plexiglas divider all around, with some wooden framing. The cubicles are connected – providing additional stability. “Plexiglas is wobbly,” Nordin said. “The only way we could get them to support was to hook them together.”

And, like the dividers in other county spaces, the court dividers had to meet a certain appearance requirement appropriate to court functions.

The Main Courtroom was the easy part of the job. There, individual chairs were placed at the front of the courtroom. Many designs and configurations would work there.

But the dividers had to be designed to fit the jury box Jackson Courtroom. Those seats are fixed to the floor.

Measurements were taken in the jury box and work began.

The first step was the creation of a cardboard template to get a feel for the size of the dividers and avoid wasting real materials.

Then, a sample. “The court staff and the judges came it,” Nordin said. “We wanted them to see it.”

They got the needed approval and moved forward.

Of course, plans were changed along the way.

One improvement in the design that was added late was hinges. Installing piano hinges on the frames allows for easier movement and storage. “We fold them, put them away, take them out, and unfold them,” Nordin said.

Construction was complete just in time.

With jury selection on Monday, the dividers were done on Friday.

They weren’t set up, though.

“It took two of us seven hours one day,” Nordin said.

They still had hours of work to go and decided to get some rest and come back fresh on Saturday.

“We came in from 6 to noon,” he said.

The project was done in time and it exceeded expectations.

“That was a fun project,” Nordin said. “We’ve gotten a lot of good feedback. We’re pleased with them.”