Study shows facility has too many entrances

Sheriff's department administrator Larry Lowman told Bedford County Board of Commissioners' law enforcement committee on Tuesday that there's no way to completely secure Bedford County Courthouse.

Commissioner Mark Thomas, a member of the committee, asked about courthouse security, and Lowman said a consulting firm from Florida evaluated the courthouse and reported to law enforcement and court officials that it can't be properly secured due to the number of entrances. The courthouse has first floor entrances on all four sides, and the basement entrance must be kept open as the only wheelchair access to the building.

The difficulty in securing the courthouse has been cited in discussions during the past few years of the need for a new jail and justice center. But the current economy and the county's existing debt make it unlikely that the county will start a new multi-million-dollar building project this year.

Money is available for more limited efforts to secure individual courtrooms or functions. A courthouse security fund, paid for from court fees, had $71,596 in it at the end of June, according to county finance director Robert Daniel. Daniel also said that Clerk & Master Curt Cobb has applied for a grant for security measures in Chancery Court. Although Chancery Court does not handle criminal cases, officials have noted at previous meetings that litigants unhappy with the results of divorces and child custody cases are a potential security risk.

Lowman said the sheriff's department has one bailiff assigned to the courthouse, and there are often one or two deputies serving as jail transport officers present during court days. But on the heaviest court days, there can be four different sessions taking place at the same time, meaning that there's not necessarily a law enforcement officer in every courtroom.

Another development which is expected to help some with courthouse crowding and security is the potential to arraign jail inmates remotely using a video link between the county jail and the courthouse.

Last week, county commissioners approved a contract for the county to switch its telephone system to voice-over-Internet-protocol, or VOIP, provider NuVox. Daniel said that new phone system will make the two-way video possible and said the next step towards video arraignments will be to prepare a list of needed equipment.

* The commission's courthouse and county property committee, which also met Tuesday night, heard about plans to isolate the water lines being used by the kitchen at the otherwise-vacant Bedford County Medical Center. The kitchen in the old hospital is still being used to serve Christian Care Center of Bedford County, the nursing home which adjoins the old hospital. Isolating the utilities for the kitchen and the elevator which serves it will allow the water to the rest of the building to be turned off and the lines to be drained.

* The commission's rules and legislative committee placed guidelines for naming roads and bridges on the full commission's December agenda for approval. The guidelines have been under discussion for months.

The rules committee deferred action on a vacant seat on the Bedford County Emergency Medical Services board because it did not have information about the process for filling the seat, and because of questions raised by Commissioner Joe Tillett about the role of, and necessity for, the board.

The vacancy is a result of the resignation of Joe McCurry from the BCEMS board. Committee members were not certain whether the replacement needed to come from the same commission district as McCurry.