Lake County recorder's office closed because of rising COVID-19 cases
The Lake County recorder's office has suspended in-person services and the Lake County jail remains under enhanced restrictions as a result of rising COVID-19 cases.
Recorder Mary Ellen Vanderventer suspended in-person office services Monday until further notice.
"We have staff on duty doing good deeds for you behind the scenes, but we will not be available to assist you in person," Vanderventer wrote on the county website.
The recorder's office is responsible for recording, archiving and retrieving documents such as mortgages, plats of subdivision, ordinances and annexations, liens and releases, articles of incorporation, military service discharge papers and more.
The Lake County building and adjoining courthouse remains open, allowing the public to deposit documents in the drop box outside of Vanderventer's sixth-floor office.
A few hundred feet away, the COVID-19 situation inside the Lake County jail is trending in the wrong direction again.
Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said 11 inmates are in quarantine because of positive COVID-19 tests.
"Six of those arrived at the jail and tested positive upon their arrival," he said.
The number of infected inmates was down to three on Dec. 21, following a November outbreak that affected 81 inmates and 20 staff members.
Covelli said enhanced health safety measures that were imposed in November remain in place. They include canceling inmate programming, keeping inmates within their assigned units except when approved by command staff, and limiting professional visits to unit visiting booths, rather than face to face.
The work-release program also remains suspended, Covelli said.