The Brown County Commissioners will now meet at 2 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. tomorrow and the meeting will be live streamed so residents do not have to attend in person.

The meeting is being moved up due to COVID-19 concerns and wanting to get employees out of the County Office Building earlier, Commissioner Diana Biddle said this afternoon.

The commissioners will work with the Brown County Democrat to post the link to the live stream on Facebook before the start of the meeting.

Anyone who comes up with questions while watching the meeting can comment on the live stream on the Democrat’s page and a reporter will ask the question to the commissioners.

Questions can also be sent to the commissioners’ email address at [email protected] and Biddle will monitor those questions during the meeting as they come in.

The commissioners are working on setting up a Brown County Meetings and Public Notices Facebook page to post future live stream of meetings.

“We will try to have commissioner meetings to keep the public informed,” Biddle said.

The county government’s website now has a COVID-19 tab that residents can check to get the latest updates on any changes to government departments. There are links to other useful web pages under that tab too, including the Brown County COAD – Community Organizations Active in a Disaster Facebook page.

Due to the restrictions related to COVID-19, the Office of Community and Rural Affairs has suspended its public hearing requirements for preliminary grant applications.

Because of this rule suspension, the commissioners’ public hearing on the Helmsburg stormwater system project that was scheduled for March 24 in Helmsburg has been canceled, Biddle said.

For the time being, the commissioners will also suspend action on the septic ordinance so that they can concentrate on essential functions, Biddle added.