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Clark Courthouse will soon have single secure entrance

Clark County has set a tentative date of July 19 to limit entry into the courthouse in Neillsville to one secure set of doors. The change is the step in the county’s efforts to keep potential weapons out of the facility to protect courtroom and other employees and the public.

Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Jim Hirsch outlined the secure entrance plan to the county Board of Supervisors at a May 20 meeting in the courthouse. He said one set of doors near the northwest corner of the sprawling, five-level courthouse has been selected for the secure entrance, and X-ray equipment will be installed there to screen all bags, purses, etc. that are carried into the building. All persons entering the courthouse -including most county employees -- will be required to enter and exit through that one set of doors.

The courthouse now has five entrances through which the public can enter, with no security in place at any of them. There is at times a court officer on duty to screen people entering courtrooms for potentially troublesome hearings involving criminal cases, divorces, custody placements, etc., but none of the public entrances is equipped to make sure people entering are not carrying guns, knives etc.

The county is spending $58,400 on the secure entrance system, Hirsch said last week. Part of the expenses will be to install a new sidewalk between the northwest corner entrance and Court Street, for use by persons with disabilities. The current entrance to the set of doors has multiple stairs.

Hirsch said part of the plan is to install signage around the courthouse to direct the public to park in lots on the north side of the building. There is onstreet parking and a parking lot area on the south side, but those who park there would have to then walk to the north side, and that involves a steep hill on the courthouse’s west side.

The current parking lot on the south side -- near the courtroom and social services department entrances -- will now be reserved for use by those with disabilities. Because the secure entrance at the northwest corner has accessibility issues due to the stairs, people with disabilities will be allowed to use the south entrance, although they will have to press a buzzer that will alert the Sheriff’s Department, who will send a security officer for screening.

Hirsch said the county had a trial run of the secured entrance system and found that several people were carrying pocketknives or other potential weapons with them. With the new screening system, he said people who do have those items on them will be allowed to take them back to their vehicles, otherwise they will be confiscated and not returned. A main emphasis of the secured entrance plan is to keep weapons out of the building, where they could potentially be used in sensitive situations involving the court system, child support agency, etc.

Hirsch said almost all employees will be required to enter and exit through the one entrance, and will be screened daily.

“The more we let people not get screened, the worse we are,” Hirsch said. “We’re trying to eliminate those (exceptions) as much as possible.”

Once people have passed through the screening system, they can move freely about the courthouse. They will have to return to the same entrance to leave. Other doors will be equipped with alarms.

“They’re not going to be able to leave (through another door) without attracting some attention,” Hirsch said.

The secure entrance will be used between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., beginning on July 19 (if all equipment is in place), Hirsch said. There will be an after-hours entrance through doors on the northeast corner of the building, with the Sheriff’s Department providing security.

The courthouse until now has had no security system in place, and the public has been allowed to enter through the various doors with no screening. The county has had a few instances of weapons in the courtroom area, and is aware of stories from other places where people have brought weapons in and attacked others.

The county last year hired the Samuels Group, a Wausau-based construction firm, to study security and accessibility issues for the courthouse. They offered several solutions, and recommended one that would make a permanent secure entrance at the northwest first-floor doors at a cost of $950,000-$1.2 million. That plan would involve excavation of the current exterior stairs and construction of an entrance vestibule with an elevator.

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