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July 21, 2011 in City
Courthouse remodel sets off alarms
Tyler Kerr, a law student working for a judge, passes through a scanner at the west entrance of the Spokane County Courthouse on Wednesday.
(Full-size photo)
Two visions for the Spokane County Courthouse collided this week at a security scanner.
County commissioners learned Tuesday that a half-million-dollar remodeling project placed a door on the wrong side of a security station.
Wrong, anyway, now that commissioners have decided that security screeners shouldn’t be moved to the second floor as originally planned.
A messy work-around is likely in the short term, but the long-term solution may be to reopen the front door.
Currently, public entrances are at the west end of the courthouse and at the back of the courthouse annex, with scanners at each entrance.
The door to a new vehicle licensing office scheduled to open this fall is near the west entrance, in front of the scanner. Moving the scanner closer to the entrance to get it in front of the licensing office door would require people to line up outdoors more often than they already do.
The problem may be resolved by moving the scanner to the opposite side of the hall and allowing licensing office visitors to double back behind a partition.
Commissioners agreed a better solution would be to close the west side entrance, and move that scanner to the courthouse’s now-closed front entrance.
Closing the front door has created confusion and inconvenience, Commissioner Mark Richard said.
A wheelchair ramp would be required, and Facilities Director Ron Oscarson said he thinks an “aesthetically pleasing” one can be designed.
“We’ll certainly look toward that now,” he said in an interview.
It’s not clear when and how county officials got their signals crossed, but commissioners unanimously declared Tuesday that they no longer want to allow unscreened public access. With bomb incidents on the rise, commissioners said it’s no longer enough to keep guns and knives out of court.
A 2005 plan called for unfettered access to the ground floor after moving a family law court upstairs.
The idea was to make it easier for people to pay taxes, review property values, get wedding licenses or renew vehicle tabs by moving scattered offices to the first floor – and eliminating security screening in that area.
On the other hand, a security committee led by judges has argued at least since 2008 that anyone who enters the building should be screened – even employees.
The committee’s chairwoman, presiding Superior Court Judge Maryann Moreno, told county commissioners Tuesday that she was “astounded” last week to discover that the public would be able to enter the new ground-floor vehicle licensing office without passing through security.
“The fact that this happened boggles my mind,” Moreno said.
She and presiding District Court Judge Debra Hayes blasted county Facilities Director Ron Oscarson for failing to follow what they said is the county’s new security policy.
Oscarson and Auditor Vicky Dalton said they weren’t aware of any change in the plan to remove scanners from the ground floor.
“I got pretty well shellacked,” Oscarson said afterward. “I must have missed something. They (commissioners) seem to remember that we weren’t going to do what we did.”
Commissioners Richard and Todd Mielke were unclear about when they changed their minds, and new Commissioner Al French wasn’t involved.
Mielke said he thought commissioners put plans to remove ground-floor security on hold a couple of years ago, but Richard said he couldn’t remember “hitting the pause button.”
Records aren’t available for all the commissioners’ briefing sessions, but a recording of a September 2008 meeting shows the issue was discussed inconclusively. Hayes, Oscarson, Richard and Mielke participated in the discussion.
Moreno contended a May 1994 order by Superior Court Judge Richard Schroeder settled the issue by banning weapons anywhere in the courthouse.
A state law allows judges to ban weapons in the minimum area necessary to protect courts, and Schroeder said only a complete ban would be sufficient. However, his order called for signs, not security screening stations.
Metal detectors and guards weren’t introduced until July 1995. County records show that, in December 2006, presiding Superior Court Judge Robert Austin reviewed the fact that a restaurant in the courthouse annex is outside a nearby security station.
The restaurant is directly underneath District Court quarters.
As chairman of the courthouse security committee, Austin called for restaurant employees to undergo background checks. He didn’t call for the security station to be moved.
“That’s something we need to address in the future,” Richard said Tuesday.
He questioned whether the High Nooner restaurant’s lease requires unscreened access.
Purchasing Director Bela Kovacs said Wednesday the lease is silent on that point.
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Fetch on July 21 at 7:27 a.m.
I wonder where they are going to locate the lock boxes for people who are carrying a sidearm? State law requires accessible lock boxes.
hunternomore on July 21 at 7:45 a.m.
Hm-m, half a mil and they couldn’t get it right. Is anyone surprised? By the way, all those things on the first floor are handled without security in county offices in other states just fine. So pathetic.
lewis8457 on July 21 at 7:53 a.m.
I remember back in 2001 when I was a janitor there and the alarms went off in the courthouse, no one came. Not SPD or sheriff no one knew whose jurisdiction it was.
westerly on July 21 at 8:34 a.m.
Spokane sure has got security problems with all the wacko’s that live there and surrounding area, militia, hate groups, colville wacko’s, pipe bomb wacko’s etc. Sad…..not the All American city it was 30 years ago.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on July 21 at 8:37 a.m.
Given the recent incident in Arizona, where a legislator “showed” her .380 pink Baretta to a news reporter who was there to get a story on concealed weapons in the legislature….and she “showed” it by pointing the laser sights at the reporter’s chest. Her disclaimer was that “I didn’t have my finger on the trigger” would argue for only fully trained and competent security/police personnel be allowed to be armed.
In a building where temper’s often run very very hot, and emotional confrontations between aggrieved parties are not unusual, full screening is a great idea. Gus
bez233 on July 21 at 9:07 a.m.
And I was under the impression that there was a MULTI- MILLION dollar shortfall? ? ? But they seem to have money to make some rooms pretty? I wish I could remodel my place while I am broke.
SSDD
Squid on July 21 at 9:28 a.m.
The County is giving away our money again.
DickAdams on July 21 at 9:36 a.m.
Pathetic.
Mike1950 on July 21 at 11:23 a.m.
It’s hard to imagine that no one involved in locating the new screening device didn’t do a walk through prior to getting started. Maybe that would have shown them the design flaw with the licensing department door. I’ve not been there but maybe it would be cheaper just to move the door to the other side of the screening device.
Fetch on July 21 at 11:52 a.m.
There are so many things wrong with this security remodel at the courthouse, it stinks of incompetence, but then it is about “security”.
Gus,
Here is an article about your “only ones” that you say should be armed,
http://www.king5.com/news/local/Officers-shot-at-shooting-range-125611263.html
Also, no one ever said legislators had common sense.
Orphan on July 21 at 11:57 a.m.
Its hard for me to believe the County Commisioners did not read & understand RCW 9.41.290 and RCW 9.41.300 before they spent that much money to something that is unlawful. It looks like they will have to move the security to the second floor state law does not allow them to block off the 1st floor.
The relivent part of RCW 9.41.300 (b) Those areas in any building which are used in connection with court proceedings, including courtrooms, jury rooms, judge’s chambers, offices and areas used to conduct court business, waiting areas, and corridors adjacent to areas used in connection with court proceedings. The restricted areas do not include common areas of ingress and egress to the building that is used in connection with court proceedings, when it is possible to protect court areas without restricting ingress and egress to the building. The restricted areas shall be the minimum necessary to fulfill the objective of this subsection (1)(b).
Orphan on July 21 at 12:31 p.m.
Observsationson this artical:
The security committee Has judges on it and they dont know the law.
Judge Debra Hayes owes Ron Oscarson an appology.
Judge Maryann Moreno needs to understand that she does not make laws, this is a good indicator that being a Judge has gone to her head.
The law only allows judges to ban weapons from the areas mentioned in RCW 9.41.300 not anywhere they like per section 1.b.
Judge Hayes, and Austin also need to understand that they do not make law.
There is really no excuse for all of these so called professionals to be this ignorant of the law.
Scoutster on July 21 at 3:26 p.m.
County commissioners and judges should not be involved in this discussion except to provide input to the professionals.
Obama doesn’t tell the Secret Service how to do it’s job.
This is micro managing.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on July 21 at 4:33 p.m.
Fetch… thanks for the link… just goes to show that even in a controlled environment… with people that are supposedly conversant with the three NRA rules… with a range officer…… still can and do discharge a firearm and hurt someone who is in the vicinity…. thanks for the link… ( i get nervous a bit when there are people at the local shooting range “teaching” their girlfriend/spouse… when i am a booth or two down the line…
I once bought a Colt .22 auto from a “grandmother” who’s hubby had died…. she brought it up to the house where the family i knew was… and the granddaughter was offering to run out to the car and get the pistol from under the seat of the car. I said NO… and went to the car, retrieved the automatic from under the front seat… carefully took it out of it’s fine leather holster, and racked the slide back… and a live round popped out of the chamber onto the ground… No Such Thing as an Unloaded Pistol… j
D Statler on July 21 at 6:07 p.m.
Some budget shortfall huh? We could have used this money on the sewer system to provide some relief to the raising charges.We could have used this money to pay the Creach and Dodd families the amount they should be rightfully awarded for their losses.We could have hired a few honest detectives even. We all love our courthouse.Now is not the time to be flaunting money there. Wait till the economy rebounds and then spend our monies on these feel good projects. Who is running this show anyways?
ChefGus/ John Olsen on July 21 at 8:12 p.m.
UnDooly… No one responsible is “running the show” they are ALL self interested politicians and don’t care a lot about us little guys… sad but so so very true.. j