County committee: Hire more deputies for Safety, courthouse

Sheriff’s officers would staff screening sites; cost would be $420K.

A committee formed by Miami County commissioners more than a year ago to make security recommendations for the county Safety Building and historic courthouse has proposed using full-time deputies to staff screening locations at one public entrance for each building.

The recommendations were part of a report by the committee that included Sheriff Dave Duchak, Commissioner Greg Simmons, Municipal Court Judge Gary Nasal and others.

“I know county employees are very, very interested in having this done. Plus, there is the safety of the public coming and going here,” Simmons said. “It is going to get done.”

The report was presented to the commissioners this fall during a closed executive session. The commissioners have not yet publicly discussed the report and its recommendations.

“I think progress is being made and this is the closest I feel we have ever been on securing both buildings,” Duchak said. “At the end of the day, it’s like everything else, just coming up with the funding. I think the committee’s work gives the commissioners some hard numbers to look at in terms of costs, which they did not have in the past.”

The cost for five deputies to staff the checkpoints — using numbers for top pay and family benefits — would be around $420,000 a year. Duchak said he would evaluate the need for a fifth deputy,

but wanted commissioners to have a worst-case scenario when it came to possible costs.

The cost for equipment needed for the security checkpoints was estimated at $40,000 for items such as work stations, computer monitors, more cameras, alarms on doors and crash doors for some areas.

Plans are to repurpose some equipment such as the metal detectors now on the third floor of both buildings, where courtrooms are housed.

The commissioners Nov. 13 approved a grant request to the state Supreme Court that would cover much of the equipment costs, Duchak said. The requests for $118,725 were by the municipal, common pleas and juvenile/probate courts. They requested security-related hardware and the cost of installation.

Simmons said he would like to see some movement on the proposal yet this year, if possible. Hopes are the response to the grant request will be quick. If not, he’d propose approving plan elements and moving forward where possible because more deputies will need to be hired.

Duchak asked the commission in early 2017 to consider placing security checkpoints at the entrances to the buildings.

The committee was appointed in September 2017. It was asked to:

■ Investigate and prepare a report of the “many options” the county has for an improved security presence in the buildings.

■ Include in the report how counties contiguous to Miami and a least two counties of similar population facilitate security for their court building(s).

■ Analyze which of the options would best fit the local facilities.

■ Develop a projected budget for each option’s implementation and for each plan include a forecast of the overall five-year cost.