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By FRANK SHANLY
If its been a while since you last visited the Wells County Courthouse, you could be in for a few surprises on your next trip.
From the outside, the building may not look all that different, but the first six months of 2008 have brought some major relocations for several offices, and a rejuvenation for some others.
For courthouse custodian Bobbie Studebaker, the changes have meant many long hours, and many weekends spent at work, organizing and overseeing the work.
While “space” had been an issue for several offices for some time, the rapidly increasing size of the Community Corrections Department forced the issue. Cramped into a tiny portion of the fourth floor, there wasn’t sufficient room for existing staff to operate, much less the additional people required for the department’s expanding case load.
Something had to give!
Also a cause for concern was the security issue at the courthouse. Changes to property tax law, and the “unhappy customers” that these initially produced, saw law enforcement officers making increasingly frequent visits to the offices of the auditor, assessor and treasurer.
With additional concerns relating to security at the courts themselves, it was becoming all to clear that this area also needed attention.
The physical moving of offices provided the opportunity to address some security issues at the same time, and the chance was taken.
“It’s been busy.” understated Studebaker. “The change has been really big!”
For security purposes, it was considered easiest (and most economical) to restrict access to the courthouse to one entrance, where everyone entering the building can be processed through one checkpoint. After hours access for staff and community corrections cases required special consideration, but even for these, one entry point only requires one set of security measures, and is easiest to manage.
For this reason, it was decided to limit access to the courthouse to doors on the front floor. Public access is through the front (north side) doors, with the security checkpoint in the hallway. Anyone entering the building during normal business hours, including employees, must pass through this checkpoint, surrendering any weapons or other potentially hazardous items to the officers on security duty.
Scanning equipment is currently being installed to help in the detection of such items.
Security staff have a side “store room” in which they can keep confiscated items, or new equipment, or even hold someone who for arrest.
During normal business hours, only law enforcement officers will be able to use the back entrance. This is required to ensure that inmates being transported to court do not become intermingled with the general public.
For employees who require access to the building after normal business hours, the back entrance will also be available, and this is being fitted with a separate security system, to ensure the access is being monitored.
Community Corrections remained a bit of an enigma however, as they also needed after-hours access to the building, but not only for staff.
Security and space requirements combined to ensure that a move to the first floor was the only real option for this department. But that involved moving a lot of other people too.
“I guess the first move was the EMA office to the annex which created more room.” recalled Studebaker. “Community Corrections was moving down from the fourth floor to take the east corner of the building.
“In doing that, the surveyor needed to move and there was a lot of discussion on what was the best area for them to go into. The commissioners decided to give up their area and move to the (Carnegie) Annex, and the surveyor was then put into there (the commissioners old area).”
This move to the east side of the first floor gave Community Corrections access to an entrance on Main St. for their after hours visitors, with relatively simple security measures required to ensure this did not provide visitors with access to the rest of the courthouse.
It also created space on the fourth floor, at a time when both the Prosecutor’s Office and the Probation Department were both also looking for more office space. These two departments have managed to “share the spoils” and have been busy over recent weeks making a variety of renovations to the fourth floor area.
“We’re (also) putting in an office there for depositions,” explained Studebaker, “so people won’t have to leave the building. It will also be used for holding of people waiting for courts, so it will be a bit of a multi-purpose room.”
The changes did not stop there however.
Also displaced by the first floor moves were the Harrison Township assessor and the election equipment office.
With changes to the property tax system likely to result in more work (and more staff) for the Assessor’s Office, the time was right for a major renovation. With the township assessor position expected to be disestablished in the coming months, this provided a temporary home for this employee, which could then become a more permanent location for any additional staff required later.
Additional funding was secured for new furnishings, and the Assessor’s Office was able to create a very “new look” for itself, without moving to a new location.
The County Clerk’s office next door now had two problems.
Space was needed for its election equipment, and its existing filing system was creating weight issues for the floors of the courthouse.
The old pigeon-holed files were thus disposed of, and, again with the help of some “wall-shifting”, new shelving, floor to ceiling was installed and the files re-boxed. This created additional space for the election equipment.
“In the fall,” anticipated Studebaker, “all the election will be held off the second floor. It will all be done out of the back room of the clerk’s office. The machines will be in the hall, and they will do it all up there, just like they used to do years ago.”
The third floor also was experiencing weight problems due to file storage, so work was also required here.
This wasn’t simply a matter of replacing the file storage system. Here, the whole floor was completely rebuilt, with new overlay placed on it, new carpeting, and of course, the newer, lighter, filing system installed.
At the time of writing, some of the renovations are still being completed, and the security system is gradually being installed.
“The metal detector is up and running.” explained Studebaker. “The x-ray equipment is here but not hooked up yet. Hopefully within the next week or so we can see that actually running like its supposed to be. The camera system hopefully will be here within the next month or two. We’ve got it ordered, its just a matter of setting up the electrical part of it and getting them installed.
“For Community Corrections, anyone coming in to the ground floor (after hours) they’ve set up a camera system for just their area, when they are having check-ins at night, and that does also cover some of the hallway.”
At the time of writing, the security measures are still being put in place, so visitors to the courthouse may continue to notice more new “features” being added over the next few months.
“Its been a very busy, busy year.” summarized Studebaker. “The changes might not be ‘ideal’ for some offices, but we have to work with what we’ve got.”
For people accustomed to coming and going freely from the courthouse, the security changes are especially noticeable.
“The number one complaint is from employees who now have to use the front entrance.” noted Studebaker. “But you’ve got to keep a formality for this to work and if you’re giving leeway, it’s just not going to work.
“The commissioners and council are doing this for the good of the people in the building. Its not so much for themselves.
“We had a group of little children in this morning, and they thought the metal detector was really cool, and we had to let them go through two times instead of just one.
“It was exciting to them!
“Sometimes I just think if we can see things the way kids do it would be a lot better. They can look at things and see good in them, and sometimes (older) people don’t see that.
Over the past year there have been some additional issues with elevators and heating and air conditioning. But all up, Studebaker is happy with the way the courthouse building is holding up.
“We’ve had some building issues.” she reflected. “We have a clock that works but the bell isn’t ringing. With all the renovations we just haven’t had the time to get this fixed. It’s an expensive fix. We can’t get the old parts any more, so we have to make changes to the clock.”
“Right now, the clock is the only building issue. Right through the renovation we haven’t had a lot of problems, so the building is holding up.
“Also we actually have two buildings that we maintain. The (Carnegie) Annex doesn’t get a lot of the attention that it maybe needs like the courthouse does, but we also have issues there that need to looked at.
“We need to look at the security aspect there, and I’m sure that will be looked at yet this year. We’re taking it a day at a time and hopefully we’ll get there.”
Studebaker’s busy year looks set to continue as these projects are undertaken. And visitors to the courthouse will need to remember to leave their knives in their car (or at home) and to think about some of the other items they are carrying before entering the building.
But that is a relatively cheap price to pay for the peace of mind you will have knowing that your visit will be a safe one.
frank@news-banner.com