BENTONVILLE -- Anyone with business at the Benton County Administration Building may need to allow a little more time to get their work done once planned security changes are implemented.
"There will be some peak traffic times when it might be an issue, but people will learn over time not to bring great big bags and hold up the line," said Pat Adams, justice of the peace for District 6.
Security costs
Benton County is spending about $60,000 for additional security measures at its Administration Building. The work is expected to be done by the end of this month.
Source: Benton County
The county is remodeling the public entrance to the building at 215 E. Central Ave., adding a new entrance to the main lobby with a guard station and installing a metal detector for the public. Anyone bringing a purse, briefcase or other bags or containers may be delayed while they're searched.
Anyone leaving the building may go through a separate door in the lobby.
County Judge Barry Moehring said the county hasn't had any specific threats, but is responding to a general climate of greater concerns over security in public places and to recommendations on a security assessment of the building done earlier this year.
"In Benton County, that's resulted in several steps to heighten security for our buildings. First, we've gone to a badge entry system for employees, and we require employees to wear their badges and identification. We're also trying to separate public areas from employee areas. Now we're working to heighten security in our lobby, including a metal detector."
Moehring said security concerns were also at least partly behind the approval by the Quorum Court of a county ordinance allowing elected officials and county employees with enhanced concealed carry permits to have handguns in some county buildings, including the Administration Building.
"It is a sign of our times," he said. "The hope of both the enhanced security and the concealed carry ordinance is that it will be a deterrent for anyone to start any kind of violence in a county building."
County Assessor Roderick Grieve has an office on the first floor of the Administration Building, just inside the front door. He said his employees have had some people who were upset or angry, but nothing serious.
"No one has threatened or pulled a gun. But, having said that, I think my staff will feel better about the situation with the new security," he said.
Grieve said his office has satellite branches in a number of towns, including Bentonville, Rogers, Siloam Springs and Gentry. Some of those are county-owned buildings and some are not. The level of security varies from one to the next, he said.
"I would love to see security in our satellite offices," Grieve said. "I understand it's a budget issue, and I understand that we don't own all of those buildings, the state owns some of them, and it's up to them what kind of security is in place."
Security is a concern in other public areas.
The Bentonville School Board in June approved a plan to add armed security officers at Bentonville High School and West High School. Those officers will be in addition to the armed school resource officers the district has had at both schools.
Bentonville Mayor Bob McCaslin said the city has been addressing security concerns at the old City Hall building at 117 W. Central Ave. for several years. He said the mayor's office is still accessible to the public, but areas not typically used by the public have been placed behind a controlled door. Other security measures, including bullet-resistant glass and what McCaslin called "friendly barriers" have been installed in the reception area.
The city is planning to sell the building and construct a city hall near the Community Development Building at 305 S.W. A St.
"In today's world, anyone planning a building proposed for public use will take into account safety," he said. "Safety for the people who do business there and safety for the people who will be working there. That would be a topic that would have to be checked off before you get past the architect's initial design."
NW News on 08/26/2018