MANSFIELD — The Richland County Board of Commissioners on Thursday approved a request to spend $38,578 on a new electronic security system at the front door of the courthouse.
The decision to purchase new equipment from Point Security from Lexington, N.C., came during a meeting with JJ Bittinger, the county’s director of court services/chief probation officer, and county Domestic Relations Court Judge Beth Owens, currently the county’s presiding judge.
The county’s four Common Pleas Court judges, including two in the general division, probate and domestic relations, are responsible for security of the county’s administration building.
Bittinger said more than 100,000 visitors enter the courthouse annually through the screening area.
Bittinger said the county’s current x-ray and walk-through metal detection equipment are 10 years old and nearing “end of life.”
He also said costs of an annual service contract with Leidos Security Systems continue to rise each year, from $4,900 per year in 2019 to $6,600 in 2024.
There would be no required annual service contract with the new Point Security system.
The new system, including hand-held metal detectors used by courthouse security officers, would be the same as one installed at Richland County Juvenile Court four years ago, which he said has functioned well since it was purchased for the Diamond Street facility.
“(The new system) would match and mirror the one used at Juvenile Court,” Bittinger said. “It makes it easier for the officers that are working. There would not be different machines at different places because they bounce back and forth between the two buildings and everything would be the same stuff.”
Owens told commissioners the judges endorse the upgrade.
“I fully support this. Our current system is 10 years old,” the judge said. “I very much support upgraded security … the best security that we can afford. We don’t want our old equipment to break down and not to work.
“Over time, the system would pay for itself by just saving the money that we now pay for the current system service contract,” Owens said.
Bittinger said it will take take four to six weeks to receive and install the new equipment. He said the equipment would have a one-year warranty and that the vendor could respond within 36 hours if there were problems.
He also said more local suppliers could be used if equipment needed to be replaced or serviced after the warranty expires.
Commissioners agreed to transfer the funds to court security from their contingency funds.
