Committee hopes to address security issues at courthouse

Published 3:28 pm Friday, May 31, 2013

A new committee formed May 13 is making progress toward addressing security issues at the Chilton County Courthouse.

During the regularly scheduled commission meeting May 13, commissioners heard from Chilton County EMA director Bill Collum on reports of a Chilton County Courthouse security survey that was done by the Department of Homeland Security.

Collum told commissioners the Department of Homeland Security found 10 measures that could make the courthouse more secure and it was up to commissioners to decide how much money they wanted to spend to secure the courthouse.

Commission Chairman Allen Caton told commissioners he would like to look into some of the suggestions made with Collum and Chilton County Sheriff Kevin Davis.

After realizing the Memorial Day holiday on May 27 would cancel the commission meeting and the next meeting would not be scheduled until June 10, commissioners decided to vote and approve money to go ahead and get work accomplished toward the security issues.

Commissioner Shannon Welch made a motion to commit up to $10,000 from the Capital Improvement Fund toward addressing security issues at the courthouse with commissioner Bobby Agee seconding the motion.

Five commissioners voted in favor to commit the money toward security improvements with commissioners Tim Mims and Joe Headley voting against the motion.

Headley said his reasoning for voting against the motion stemmed from wanting the project to be done “right” and Mims was concerned about the cost of the project.