City Manager Addresses Potential Security Checkpoint

The installation of a security checkpoint at the Fond du Lac
City/County Government Center is edging closer to becoming a reality. City
Manager Joe Moore says the checkpoint would be located on the north end of the
building – and it would be the only public access point. 

He tells us “the idea there is that
anybody who is in the building after they’ve passed through that security
checkpoint will be free of weapons, whether or not their on the second floor in
the courthouse or anywhere else in the building.”

Moore adds that it would not be as expensive as originally
thought, with 
“the work on the building
itself will be about $80,000. That’s well below our initial estimates, so we
thought that was a good outcome. The equipment, the X-Ray machine and then the separate
piece of equipment they call the magnetometer – that’s the thing you walk
through – all together those things will come in at about $45,000.”

He believes that “all of those investments are long-lasting. These pieces of equipment last for a long, long time and we feel like it’s an investment worth making because we’ve heard more and more of peoples concerns about the ease of access into the building – and this will really help change our perspective about that because it will allow us to do screening that we don’t have right now.”

Moore says concerns have been voiced about the lack of security in the building – especially with the courthouse on the second floor. The project was passed through the County Public Safety Committee earlier this week.