ROBERTSDALE – During an emergency special meeting Monday afternoon, the county commission decided to close all non-essential Baldwin County offices for Tuesday.

The commission stopped short of declaring a state of emergency over the impending winter weather expected to blanket the county in a layer of ice and possibly snow. The commission will meet again Tuesday morning to decide what actions, if any to take for Wednesday.

Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency director Mitchell Sims said the north end of the county should get freezing rain by 4 a.m. Tuesday. The rest of the county will be covered by the frozen precipitation by 6 a.m.

“The National Weather Service is our experts on this and they are predicting up to a quarter-inch of ice accumulating,” said Sims. “With a layer of ice, we will have the potential for more accidents so we are asking people to stay off the roads. Also, the forecast for Wednesday doesn’t have the temperature getting much above freezing and then dipping down into the 20s that night. So some of what they are calling a ‘wintery mess’ may hang around until Thursday.”

Cal Markert said the county highway department will be loading trucks with sand and be on standby to sand bridges as they begin to ice.

Closings

The fear of bad weather has already prompted several closings. The Baldwin County Schools will be closed Tuesday, Jan. 28. Superintendent Alan Lee will reassess the situation Tuesday morning and make a decision by noon whether or not to have school on Wednesday.

Around 300 people from across the county arrived in Bay Minette Monday morning for jury duty. Circuit Court Judge Robert Wilters has closed court for Tuesday and Wednesday to keep people off the roads.

“There are just too many jurors to try to get notice to (if the courts closed Tuesday and then possibly Wednesday),” said Wilters. “We hope we can get back in on Thursday.”

Baldwin County garbage collection will not run Tuesday or Wednesday. The normal Tuesday routes will be picked up on Friday. Wednesday’s routes will be collected on Saturday.

 The city of Bay Minette has announced that it will be closed Tuesday and garbage routes will not be run.