HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Reno County Commission again discussed the proposed secure entrance to the Reno County Courthouse and Law Enforcement Center with District Judges weighing in on their thoughts for making the courthouse secure.
Administrative Judge Patty Macke-Dick made it clear to the commission that new laws concerning guns is not the issue. She says the courthouse has always been at risk and that they’ve been lucky so far. Both Judge Trish Rose and Judge Joe McCarville are also in favor of the secure entrance.
The issue for the commission is the cost with the lowest bid being much higher then estimated cost if you include the cost of renovating the old jail for an evidence property room for law enforcement. The initial estimate for both was 1.2 million, but the lowest bid is just over 1.4 million and if you add additional soft cost, that could bring the total to as much as 1.7 million according to County Administrator Gary Meagher.
In the end, they decided to have Meagher talk with other architects to get input in possibly using either the entrance to the Law Enforcement Center of the main entrance of the courthouse as other options and what the cost might be and would it be feasible for renovating those two locations.
The county has about 30-days left to decide or the current bids would be outdated. They could proceed by separating the entrance project with the renovation of the old jail. If they were to go that direction, they would probably look for new bids for the renovation project.
Commission Chair Dan Deming assured that three judge present and others who work in the courthouse that there will be security added, but maybe not where they were planning.
So, the whole issue appears to be in limbo at this point, but expect it to come back in the coming weeks.