Wayne White
Managing Editor

The Osage County Commission learned Monday the county might be required to deal with fire safety issues at the courthouse sooner than expected.

Commissioners heard from architect Jay Zimmerschied, of Treanor Architects, who told of a telephone conversation he had last week with a representative of the Kansas State Fire Marshal’s office.

After a fire marshal’s inspection of the courthouse in July, the commission was notified of violations pertaining to emergency exits, emergency lighting and signage, openings between floors, lack of emergency plans, elevator smoke alarm testing, and no fire alarm system.

Since then, commissioners requested Treanor to review the violations, with the possibility of the company defining a project based on the fire marshal’s concerns.

Zimmerschied said that during the telephone conversation, the fire marshal representative first agreed with him that most of the violations were “things that clear and simply can be handled.”

A second phone call from the fire marshal’s office did not end as positive, he said. That discussion centered on the county’s violations of restricted access to upper floors of the courthouse with only one staircase.

“[The representative] indicated that the fire marshal would be sending a letter to the county saying that because you have a low occupancy (limit), once you hit the magic 50 number of people in today’s code, you need to limit access, so limiting the upper two floors to 50 people or less,” Zimmerschied said. He said he was told a letter would be sent to the county stating the fire marshal’s determination.

County counselor Delton Gilliland said such a ruling could have a detrimental effect on the court system.

“Court personnel could verify they would need to have more people than that in the courtroom,” Gilliland said.

Zimmerschied agreed, “Truly what the fire marshal is suggesting is don’t allow people to go to court.”

Commissioner William Prescott questioned, “They could close this if they want to … how do we guarantee the courts, and how do they stay on schedule with this hanging over our heads?”

“We ignore it,” said Osage County District Court Clerk Charna Williams who was present at the meeting along with Judge Stephen Jones.

Gilliland agreed. “I think that’s a good answer,” he said. “I would question the authority of any state agency to shut down the court system in any county.”

Prescott asked about an appeal process for fire safety violations; Zimmerschied said appeals were possible if an “extremely hazardous condition” was declared.

Zimmerschied recommended the county wait for the fire marshal’s letter to arrive before making any further decisions.

“There are so many facilities across the state they could walk into and shut down today, but they haven’t,” he said.

“It would just seem to me some reasonable approach should be possible,” Gilliland said. “In my opinion, just an ordinary accidental fire would be almost impossible to happen here.”

Commissioner Larry Woodson suggested the county start making progress “that we can afford,” such as the early detection measures.

“We want to enhance the safety of employees and people who come here,” Woodson said. “On the other hand, I don’t think we’re going to implode the whole building to satisfy the fire marshal. We’re going to take progressive steps in order to reach a point where we can negotiate.”

The county had originally requested input from the fire marshal’s office after concerns were expressed about the safety of new windows to be installed at the courthouse. An inspection resulted in a 10-page notice of violations. The courthouse is currently undergoing an energy-saving renovation project.

Zimmerschied said the next step would be to develop a historical preservation plan, due to the historical nature of the courthouse.

“That governs and guides how we approach the code footprint and corrective measures determined by the whole study,” he said.

Zimmerschied presented a proposal from Treanor for developing a preservation plan and a plan to correct safety deficiencies at the courthouse. Cost of the preservation plan, which would include interior and exterior surveys, photo documentation, and design recommendations, is $26,960. For developing corrective measure recommendations, the company proposed a fee of $9,338.

In reviewing Treanor’s proposal, Commissioner Carl Meyer said, “We need to discuss this a little further. We’d kind of like to finish one job before we start another.”

“I don’t think they’re going to show up and put up tape to keep you from using the courthouse,” Zimmerschied said.

Osage County Clerk Rhonda Beets said she had notified the fire marshal’s office that she would report the county’s progress on the violations by Oct. 1. Commissioners agreed she should send a letter noting the actions that have occurred including working with an architect to come up with the right solutions for the facility.

In other business, the commission:

• met in executive session for an hour and 12 minutes to discuss personnel issues regarding the land use office. After meeting with Gilliland, land use coordinator Sheila Dale, and land use office clerk Chelsi Thompson, commissioners voted to reassign Thompson to the county clerk’s office. Commissioners also stated their intent to discuss personnel issues with Dale during a special meeting that was to be held Wednesday morning.

• approved a resolution prohibiting the use of cell phones by employees in moving vehicles being used for county business. Commissioners also told department heads that any property damage that results while employees are conducting county business should be reported to Gilliland.

• approved a resolution to appoint Stacy Berry as county appraiser and outline her employment agreement. During the meeting, commissioners also heard from Osage County Sheriff Laurie Dunn, who complained that Berry’s salary increase conflicted with commissioners’ recent statements regarding lack of funds to give wage increases to county employees. Berry noted that even with her raise in pay, her office remained within its budget.

• met with Lyndon City Administrator Larry Thurston to discuss the city’s plan to repair a sewer line that runs under the courthouse. No action was taken.

• approved a purchase order for $3,652 for two IBM printers in the treasurer’s office. One was damaged recently when rainwater entered the building through a clogged roof drainpipe. The other was to replace a malfunctioning printer.