Mayor Keith Gaskin broke a tie during Tuesday’s Columbus City Council meeting to hire two part-time security guards for City Hall.
Chief Operations Officer Jammie Garrett told the council she and other employees have felt unsafe and had dealt with “irate” people at times.
“I have had two personal incidents, and I don’t want to discuss them openly,” Garrett said. “There are seven women in City Hall. Most of the time the mayor is not present, and (Chief Financial Officer Jim Brigham) is upstairs.”
Garrett asked the council to think of the safety of the workers in City Hall.
“We actually have to deal with people who are irate about different things in the city,” she said. “We are the first place that they come. Specifically, my office is the first place they come.”
Gaskin said he has had some surprises in City Hall himself.
“Our layout is not very welcoming or good for monitoring people coming in and out of the building,” he said.
“We do lock the back door. I will tell you there have been incidents where people have appeared in my office with no warning. I’m not afraid, I’ve got my Louisville Slugger in there with me.”
Gaskin said City Hall has the least security of any government building.
“If you go to the courthouse, you have to walk through security,” Gaskin said. “People have to go through a metal detector. The (Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau) locks their doors; you have to ring a bell to get inside. The (Golden Triangle Development LINK) locks their doors. You can’t get in there without someone buzzing you in.”
Gaskin said the idea was to have two retired law enforcement officers who would work part-time for $20 per hour.
“They would greet people when they come in City Hall,” Gaskin said. “You never know when something might happen. All you have to do is turn on the television and there’s another incident. I would encourage the council to support this, please.”
Vice Mayor Joseph Mickens, who represents Ward 2 on the council, said he didn’t want to do anything now.
“I hear what you’re saying, and I’m concerned about safety, not just at City Hall but at all of our buildings,” Mickens said. “This is something the council is just now hearing about, and I don’t know where the funds are coming from. I think this is something we can take up (during the budget process).”
Mickens moved, with a second from Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones, to table the request until the budget process begins this summer.
Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard asked Chief Joseph Daughtry if police officers could take on some security roles at City Hall.
“What we’ve been doing is having officers go by every hour on the hour when they can and do walk-throughs,” Daughtry said. “If we had more manpower we might be able to put somebody on light duty over there. All they can do now is walk through.”
Mickens asked Daughtry how many reported incidents there had been at City Hall.
“I’m not exactly sure, but every time there’s an incident we do respond,” Daughtry said. “Some responses generate a report. Some are handled by the officer — they de-escalated it or it wasn’t what they thought it was.”
Brigham said the city needed to keep the “citizen service” element in mind with any security precautions.
“We have a lot of people who come to City Hall who need to be helped,” he said. “Normally they wander around until they find someone. … City Hall should be a welcoming place for our citizens, and we’re reluctant to lock all the doors for security purposes.”
Human Resources Director Pat Mitchell said she doesn’t have anywhere to go if she felt threatened.
“I’ve had an incident in my office, as well,” she said. “It’s a concern for all of us. When they come up the stairs, I can’t run out the back door.”
Mickens underlined the cost angle again.
“Mayor, you’re the one who’s always telling us to be frugal in our spending and be good stewards of our resources,” Mickens said. “All I’m saying is let’s come up with where the money’s going to come from.”
Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene made a substitute motion, seconded by Beard, to authorize hiring the two part-time security guards. It deadlocked, with Greene, Beard and Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco voting yes and Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Stewart, Mickens and Jones voting no. Gaskin broke the tie in favor.
Brigham explained Wednesday morning at the mayor’s press conference that there was money to pay for the new hires.
“The money will come from the payroll budget,” Brigham said. “We’re below budget, which is a good thing, so we have the spare funds. If that’s not enough we will look at our emergency funds.”
The city has about $200,000 in a contingency fund set up to deal with emergency situations, Brigham said.
Garrett told The Dispatch Wednesday morning the guards would be in place “as soon as possible.”
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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