A sparsely populated county southwest of the Twin Cities is about to resume some people-to-people public services in the midst of the continuing coronavirus outbreak.
Sibley County, with a population of about 15,000, is reopening its Sheriff's Office starting Monday "to personally provide services to the public," said Sheriff Patrick Nienaber.
The state of Minnesota says that as of Sunday morning there have been four confirmed and no fatal coronavirus cases in Sibley County, which borders to the west the much more heavily populated Carver and Scott counties in the Twin Cities metro.
Some of the services available as of Monday include providing burn permits and accepting applications for permits to carry a gun in public, Nienaber said.
His office in the county seat of Gaylord also will be handling any paperwork for the various services his agency provides.
The jail, however, will remain closed to the public for the time being, Nienaber said.
The sheriff also said only one person will be allowed in the lobby of the Sheriff's Office at a time and hand sanitizer will be available in the entry. Other "health conscious measures" will be put in place as well, he said.
The lobby counter, chairs and doorknobs will be sanitized regularly throughout the day, he said.
