County Officials Consider Steps To Make Courthouse More Secure

With violence increasing around the world, keeping courthouse workers and officials safe is becoming more of a concern.

Last Thursday, the Ste. Genevieve County Commission reviewed a proposal from Hutson Glass of Crystal City to provide safety measures for the circuit court and discussed overall courthouse safety with Circuit Clerk Julie Bova, Collector Claudia Stuppy and County Clerk Sue Wolk.

Discussions among county officials had taken place previously about making courthouse offices “harder” targets should a gunman ever enter the building. The city of Ste. Genevieve also has discussed security  and is addressing the issue in the plans for a city hall/police department renovation.

The Hutson Glass proposal came to a little more than $15,000 [including labor] for two steel doors with half-view, two bullet-resistant hole covers, two locks, two bullet-resistant trays to slide documents back and forth through the glass, and 96-by-36-inch and 60-by-40-inch glass partitions with speaker holes in them.

The price would not include painting or drywall work.

Another option, with thinner, less protective glass, came to about $4,000 less.

Bova expressed concern that the  described setup might not be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). She said a ledge for wheelchair users to write on might be needed.

See complete story in the February 6 edition of the Herald.