Brewton office to reopen Monday, Nov. 2; Atmore office remains open; clerk splits shifts to keep office open
Due to COVID-19 issues within the Escambia County (Ala.) Tax Collector's Office at the courthouse in Brewton, the office was closed last Thursday and will remain closed until Monday, Nov. 2.
Tax Collector Tim Pettis said the collector's office inside the Atmore Satellite Courthouse at 8600 Highway 31 remains open and is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Pettis said his office will not charge penalties for late renewals of vehicle tags that were due to expire at the end of October for several days after the office in Brewton is opened on Nov. 2.
However, he said he had no authority over law enforcement for people driving with expired tags.
If anyone has any questions, Pettis can be reached at 251-727-0585.
The COVID issue in the tax collector's office prompted Circuit Clerk John Robert Fountain to make adjustments in his office as well.
In an effort to prevent a total shutdown of his office, Fountain said he's gone back to working 'skeleton' crews and alternating employees on which days they report to work. He said due to the change the office will be closed from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. each day.
Fountain said he went to the split crews several months ago, but resumed a full staff when the COVID numbers began to fall.
“With my office doing elections, we can't shut down,” Fountain said. “I'm doing my best to keep my office open.”
Fountain serves as the absentee ballot manager for the county, noting that today (Thursday, Oct. 29) is the final day to apply for an absentee ballot for the Nov. 3 General Election.
Fountain said the requests for absentee ballots this year have “been off the charts”. He said as of Monday he had give out more than 1,100 absentee ballots. He said in the last presidential race there was a total of about 900 absentee ballots.
“I'm at 1,100 and we've got a week left,” he said.
Fountain said he spent most of Monday in the back of his office processing absentee ballots.
“I had 30 messages on my phone in four hours and 28 of them were questions about absentee ballots,” he said. “It's hard to answer the phone when I'm processing ballots in the back.”
Fountain said he has other members of his staff helping with absentee ballots but said there is not enough room in the office. He said it gets more crowded when people come in to fill out absentee ballots.
