Judge Brandon Cox Renews Plea for More Courthouse Security

April 10, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

A year ago, DeKalb County General Sessions and Juvenile Court Judge Brandon Cox asked the budget committee to consider funding measures to increase courthouse security. He was back again Tuesday night addressing with them the same issue.

Judge Cox presented to the budget committee his plan for beefing up security in the courthouse which includes, among other measures establishing one main entrance with a full-time security officer and a screening station (metal detector) through which the public enters the building.

Although the county commission is considering construction of a new jail or judicial center, which if approved could still take up to three years to complete, Judge Cox said security concerns at the existing courthouse need to be addressed now.

“On a daily basis here, this courthouse is left vulnerable and the folks who work here are left vulnerable. I challenge you to find another courthouse in the state of Tennessee that you can walk into without being scanned into. I don’t think you can. We are unique in that respect,” said Judge Cox.

“My requests are taken from the National Best Practice Standards for courthouse security. My main ask is that we have a full-time security officer here, that there is one main entrance that the public enters through and that everybody who enters this building is scanned and checked. That will cost money and I don’t know what those numbers are like but its cheaper than the cost of the disaster that’s probably coming down the line,” Judge Cox said.

“We already have the scanners they have to walk through. Ideally, we would have the x-ray machines, but we can work on getting that in the future with some security grants. Ideally, we would also have each and every non-public office space locked down with either a keypad or a key card for only folks that are supposed to be in there. Right now, you basically have free reign when you come in this building, and I don’t think that is safe for anybody”.

“My requests would further be that all entrances and exits be secured and locked except for the main entrance”.

“It is my understanding that this county commission amended the court fees some years ago to include  $25 for each disposed case for court security. Last year the numbers were around 3,200 cases and while not all a good majority of them were disposed with that fee so there are some monies supposed to be set aside for court security. I would ask that you look into that, and a plan be made for that,” added Judge Cox.

The Courthouse Security Request as presented by Judge Cox is as follows:

Main Entrance Issues:
1. Establish one (1) main entrance through which the public can enter the court building. (for ADA compliance, this would of necessity need to be the east entrance with the ramp).

2. Install appropriate signage at the main entrance to alert the public what items cannot be brought into the court building (e.g., guns, knives, mace, scissors, etc.) and that all persons are subject to search by security personnel.

3. All other exterior doors will remain locked at all hours, including business hours.

4. Emergency exit crash bars should be installed on all exterior doors and all exterior doors should be alarmed, with a ten second delay consistent with local codes.

5. Establish appropriate signage for “Exit Only” doors.

6. Set up a screening station, including a Magnetometer at the main entrance.

7. Install or adjust cameras to cover all exterior doors.

8. Implement keycard, coded access to the south entrance (basement level) for approved personnel.

Offices and Work Areas:
1. Implement keycard or coded access to all offices and work areas, with only authorized individuals being permitted access for each such office.

2. Install plexiglass enclosure over all public counters.

3. Install, update all duress alarms.

4. Install doors with glass panes in all mediation and conference type rooms.

5. Install or upgrade security cameras to capture public encounters consistent with maintaining confidentiality in the offices or work areas.

Parking:
1. Provide for judicial and clerk parking toward the south entrance (basement level) of the building, having signage of “RESERVED” and remove all language of “Judge” or “Clerk”, etc.

2. Install security cameras that cover the parking area.

3. Do not permit in-custody defendants to be near the parking area.

Personnel:
1. Provide for one (1) full time security officer to operate the manometer and screen all individuals entering the courthouse.

2. Provide for coordination between the security officer and the court officers present when court is in session”.

The budget committee has not yet acted on Judge Cox’s request.

April 10, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Election Commission is seeking more funding in the 2024-25 fiscal year.

During Tuesday night’s first county budget committee meeting for the year, Administrator of Elections Dustin Estes presented the proposed election commission budget which includes an increase in pay of $25 per meeting to the five election commissioners, who meet monthly, and a two dollar per hour adjustment for the people who help hold elections. Plans are to expand early voting to six hours a day, four of the five days a week during the early voting period and to make the daily hours more uniform.

“I am requesting an increase of $2,500 to pay the election commission for their monthly meeting from $75 to $100,” said Estes.

“For the election commission workers, I am requesting in total (for 2024-25) an amount of $42,000, an $8,000 from the 2023 budget. I would like to make mention based on how the fiscal year operates, every other year we have one election and then the other year we have two elections. We are coming out of one year that has one election and going into the next fiscal year that has two elections. In our 2023 budget, we had $34,000 so in total this is an increase of $8,000. This increase is to help pay for the early voting workers’ hourly rate increase from $10 to $12 that was approved last year, and for extended early voting hours” explained Estes.

“If you are not aware of our early voting hours, they are a little irregular. Mondays are 1-5 p.m., Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., and Thursday hours are 2- 6 p.m. There are four hours each day Monday – Friday. The thought process was that (by having irregular hours) we were capturing different times of the day throughout the week (for early voting). The election commission is now requesting that we have more standardized hours for early voting that helps voters in a way they are not so much confused. We are requesting enough pay increase (for election workers) to cover extended regular hours each day either from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. or 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. for four of those five days throughout the week,” said Estes.

Saturday early voting hours would continue which in the past have been 9 a.m. until noon.

The budget committee has not yet acted on the election commission request.

April 10, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The Smithville Mayor and Aldermen are in the midst of putting together the budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Mayor Josh Miller wants residents to know that there will be no city property tax increase this year and he is cautioning the aldermen to be as conservative with spending as possible. “We must have a year of savings,” said Mayor Miller.

During a city council workshop Monday night, Police Chief Mark Collins and Public Works Supervisor Josh Hawkins made their budget requests for the new year.

Chief Collins said his department needs a new patrol car, four- three channel dash cameras, and six touch screen laptop computers for police cars.

“I need one new car to replace a 2014 Dodge Charger with a little over 120,000 miles that has been wrecked twice already. This is the last of the 2014’s we have,” said Chief Collins. “The quote they gave me as long as they are still on the lot is $36, 451 and the ballpark cost for equipment and installation is $15,000 for a total price of $51,451,” he said.

As for the dash cams, Chief Collins said he would like to purchase four of them in the new budget year and equip the rest of the patrol cars later.

“The sheriff’s department has purchased some of these and I really like them. They are inexpensive. The old ones we had were about $2,000 each but they didn’t work that great. These Pruveeos are a three channel dash camera with cameras facing forward, toward the officer, and the back seat so if we have someone in custody we can keep an eye on them. Its all videoed. These are $237 each (total cost $950 for four) and I would like to get four of them. I know that’s just four out of a force of fifteen but before I go all in I want to try them for myself to make sure they are what we need,” said Chief Collins.

New Toughbook laptop computers for the patrol cars are also needed, according to Collins.

“These are computers that will go in an officer’s patrol car especially on night shift. The computers we have now are not made for what we are using them for,” said Chief Collins. “We have already had two of them go down. They are about $1200 computers. Imagine trying to drive and operate a mouse on a computer at the same time. In order to communicate with dispatch and click on the proper things, that’s what my officers have to do right now. The touch screens will make it safer for our guys and they are faster. They are just better computers. If we order them directly from Dell, the quote is $2,464 (total cost $14,788 for six). A guy from DTC said he could get them cheaper, plus they will come with a year of maintenance. I’d like to get six of those,” he said.

Chief Collins also asked that he be given direct authority to spend money from the drug fund for drug investigation purposes when needed without having to request action by the mayor and aldermen.

Meanwhile, Public Works Supervisor Hawkins renewed a request made last year for the city to purchase a new F550 crew cab style dump truck to replace a 2002 F350 model.

“We have two dump trucks. These are small trucks with a dump bed on them. One is an F550 but it’s a two wheel drive and we use it six months out of the year (during winter). It stays with the salt spreader and snow plow so we are not able to use it at all for six months unless it snows. The other truck only has an eight foot bed and it is a 2002 F350 and it has 282,000 miles on it. The truck I am asking for is bigger than the 2002. It has a bigger bed with a hydraulic lift. In return for having a bigger truck is less wear and tear and less mileage driving back and forth to dump sites and less fuel costs. All around its cheaper in the long run to have a bigger truck. If I can get the F550 (Cost $85,000) I am asking for, we can always sell the F350 and get money back,” said Hawkins.

The public works department is also in need of a new F150 pickup truck and two new lawnmowers.

“The new F150 four wheel drive super crew I am asking for (Cost $46,000) is a regular pickup truck. We have three trucks down there right now that are right at 20 years old. I am trying to replace one of them,” said Hawkins.

“We also need two new lawnmowers (Total cost $24,000 for two mowers),” Hawkins explained. “Right now we have a 2016 Bad Boy mower and a 2004 John Deere mower which has a rebuilt motor on it from this year. Our guys like the 2004 better than the Bad Boy. It mows better and it holds the hill better. I would like to keep the 2004 as a back up and sell the Bad Boy,” said Hawkins.

The city further needs a new means of substituting refrigerants in the A/C system of city owned vehicles according to Hawkins. Total cost $6,600.

“In 2021 the EPA mandated that every vehicle be switched from an R134A to an R1234YF refrigerant. Right now on any newer city vehicle, if it needs maintenance on the A/C system we have no way to charge it back up. We have four or five vehicles that have this and if something happened to them we would have to take them somewhere. We have the machine for the older vehicles from 2020 down (older),” explained Hawkins.

In other discussions Monday night, the mayor and aldermen are considering again budgeting at least. $150,000 for street paving and creating a new part time codes enforcement officer to oversee the enforcement of city property maintenance regulations. This person would not enforce building codes because the city already has an inspector for that need.

The city is considering increasing water and sewer rates possibly by at least 2% in the new budget year. Although the water and sewer funds are reflecting surpluses, city officials believe its wiser to implement smaller rate increases yearly rather than larger hikes later to keep incoming revenues ahead of expenses which is also the recommendation of the state comptroller.

Also under consideration is the city joining the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System to provide better retirement benefits for city employees.

In a previous city budget workshop, Fire Chief Charlie Parker, among other requests, asked the city to consider the purchase of a new fire truck to replace the oldest one in the fleet and to add up to six new full time city firefighters. The city currently has four full timers.

The city is also planning to upgrade its radio communication technology for emergency services which could be as much as $400,000 either this year or over the next couple of years. That’s in addition to the $115,000 purchase the city authorized in December for a total of 25 Harris XL 400 Extreme fire rated portable radios for the Smithville Fire Department.

The city’s next budget workshop is set for Monday, April 29 at 5:30 p.m. at city hall.