by Dave Kitchell
Walking through the first floor of the Cass County Government Building will soon be like walking through Indianapolis International Airport.
Grant money county officials received has been used to buy X-ray equipment. Two hand-held wands, an X-ray conveyor and a walk-through X-ray machine will be used at the east entrance of the building off Fourth Street.
There’s just one problem, County Commissioner Dave Arnold said Thursday. There’s no funding for the positions to man the equipment.
That will be one of the issues the Courthouse Security Committee he chairs will work out sometime soon. Arnold said the equipment would require one full-time and two part-time employees, with the full-timer and one part-timer on duty whenever the courthouse is open.
“All the county courthouses are going to higher security,” he said.
Arnold said he wanted to have the equipment operating in the next three weeks.
The committee will meet Monday.
Once the equipment is operating, the only entrance to the building will be on the east side. Other doors will be used only as exits.
Arnold said there had been no reported problems with weapons being taken into the courthouse, but he added security might deter security problems posed by upcoming trials.
Dave Kitchell may be contacted at (574) 732-5150, or via e-mail at david.kitchell@pharostribune.com
