Illinois Governor JB Pritzker announced the extension of the stay at home order for Illinois to May 30 and moments after, the DeWitt County Board discussed how to proceed in bringing County employees back as soon as May 4. 

Board Vice-Chair Camille Redman explains they cannot continue to pay their employees to stay home and continue to get paid. It is starting to impact the County's budget.

DeWitt County Sheriff Mike Walker indicates measures have been taken and adjusted to limit the traffick into the County Building. He estimates 95 to 99 percent of traffic has been eliminated and measures are being taken to make sure everyone is healthy.

According to County Board Chair David Newberg, some County employees have been coming to work and department heads have been making decisions on how to staff their offices. Employees that have not been working are still being paid but Newberg echoes Redman's comments and says they need to start deciding if they want to have employees return to work or not pay them.

State's Attorney Dan Markwell is having his staff return to work and there is plenty to be done in other offices of the building as well. Newberg says if the County Building is secure, they are going to ask employees to return to work. 

But what if County employees do not want to work and choose to be laid off and receive unemployment. State's Attorney Markwell encourages the employee to talk to their supervisor. However, there was some confusion about employees who choose not to work. 

According to Newberg, asking employees to return to work is not necessary because they never left work. He indicates it will be up to Department heads and officeholders to work with their staff on the best way to proceed given the various circumstances many individuals may face.