Allen County commissioners will take a cue as to how interested the public is in their affairs by the turnout to their first scheduled evening meeting on Tuesday, March 25.
The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the basement of the courthouse. If turnout is healthy, they will continue to intersperse the evening meeting times with their weekly 8:30 a.m. meetings. Currently, Paul Zirjacks of Iola is the only resident who faithfully attends commission meetings.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Allen County Sheriff Anthony Maness discussed courthouse security with commissioners John Brocker and David Lee. Commissioner Jerry Daniels was absent.
Maness said he plans to place an additional officer at the courthouse who is trained specifically in facility security operations, which is “entirely different from patrolling out in the field.”
The position includes coordinating the schedules of three part-time deputies, Steve Womack, Shane Smith and Jason Kegler. Of those, Womack is stationed at the courthouse to provide protection during courtroom proceedings while Kegler is called in when both courtrooms are in session or is needed elsewhere. Smith, who also serves as police chief of Moran, helps with routine patrol duties.
Womack, mid-60s, is semi-retired, but “at some point is going to embrace retirement,” Maness surmised. “This is his third time to come out of retirement, and he’s working almost full time for us,” Maness said.
Commission Lee asked if technology could be used instead of manpower for security purposes.
Maness hedged.
“I understand the desire to save manpower, but I also want to make sure we’re doing our due diligence to provide a secure environment for our employees and constituents who come into the courthouse,” he said.
Maness said electronic surveillance mechanisms in the courthouse need to be reviewed, specifically its notification system in the event a suspicious person enters the courthouse.
“There has been no maintenance on the system since it was installed,” Maness said.
County Counselor Bob Johnson added, “I’ve been in eight courthouses in the past week — Pittsburg, Emporia, Paola, Chanute, Erie, Fredonia, Fort Scott and Ottawa. All eight have full-time security stationed at desks and metal detectors at their entrances.”
“I’m not suggesting that we do that, but it’s probably inevitable at some point,” Johnson said.
“Once it was installed, it appears it was never updated,” he said. Maness estimated systems were installed about seven years ago.
“At the front end, it’s going to be a pretty heavy lift to get everything back to where it needs to be to get operational and covering all the bases,” he said.
Maness introduced Nate Jackson as the new undersheriff. Jackson has 30 years of experience as a law enforcement officer with both the Iola Police Department and the Sheriff’s Department.
