Scott County discusses boosting security at buildings

BENTON, Mo. -- Upgrading security at Scott County facilities will be a matter of using modern technology while maintaining historical aesthetics.

County officials during Thursday's County Commission meeting met with representatives of the architect, general contractor and security consulting firm to discuss the security-upgrade project for the Scott County Courthouse, Jail, Judicial Building, Sheriff's Office and Public Administrator building in Benton.

"I'm excited about the project," said Jamie Burger, presiding county commissioner.

Matthew Kiefner, project manager for Kiefner Brothers Inc. of Cape Girardeau, general contractor for the project, said backup generators ensuring the security system never loses power will be in place and "up and running" by the next project progress meeting Nov. 19.

The project will equip county buildings with security features typically found in modern systems, such as digital video cameras, with more than a dozen that will have "pan, tilt, zoom" ability and duress alarm buttons. The features will ensure the county complies with U.S. Department of Justice standards for jails.

Much of Thursday's discussion was on which doors will have access by a key-card system and access settings for those doors.

"We are going to have card swipes on every office," Burger said.

Jeff Pronschinske of Mead and Hunt in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, an architectural firm specializing in security, said the key-card system can include a remote lockdown feature preventing anyone new from getting into the courthouse, but public buildings are required to ensure "everybody inside can get out" and can't be made into "people traps."

But other than legal restrictions, "it all comes down to how you program it," Pronschinske said.

The system can include "the ability to shut down cards," he said, and different levels of access, including master access cards.

Pronschinske advised against relying on old mechanical key locks on doors from county offices to the courthouse corridor.

"With a 100-year-old courthouse, we don't know how many keys are out there circulating," he said.

Dale Rogers of Robert Stearnes and Associates in Sikeston, Missouri, a local engineer working with Mead and Hunt, said they need to find the best way to run key lock wiring to courthouse doors so it has minimal aesthetic effects to the historical door frames.

"It is a historical building, and it's going to take a lot of coordination to preserve the history here," Pronschinske said.

The Commission accepted Kiefner Brothers' bid in May, with the project to be finished within 380 days from the execution of the contract.

The $1.2 million project is a planned, budgeted expenditure to be paid off over two years from the county's general revenue fund, according to county officials.