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Courthouse
faces capacity limits
due to fire safety violations
Wayne
White
Managing Editor
According to the Kansas State Fire Marshal, the Osage County Courthouse
is unsafe if more than 49 people are on the top two floors. The
determination has prompted court officials and county commissioners
to search for a solution to comply with the fire marshal’s
ruling that at least two exits must be available on each floor.
During a special meeting held Oct. 1, Osage County commissioners
spoke with District Judge Phillip Fromme through a conference call,
regarding a letter received Sept. 30 from Jennifer Flott, an enforcement
inspector with the state fire marshal’s office.
In the letter, Flott requests more information on a plan of correction
submitted by the county in response to fire safety violations cited
by a fire inspector in July. The commissioners’ primary concern
was Flott’s statement, “Effective immediately the occupant
load of the second and third floors combined can be no more than
49 persons until at least two separate exits can be provided on
each floor and be accessible from every part of every story.”
Violations originally cited pertained to emergency exits, emergency
lighting and signage, openings between floors, lack of emergency
plans, elevator smoke alarm testing, and no fire alarm system. Commissioners
requested the fire safety inspection after concerns were raised
about the safety of new windows to be installed at the courthouse.
Fromme echoed commissioners’ concerns that limiting the number
of people on the top two floors of the courthouse could effectively
prohibit holding court, especially a jury trial.
Fromme said he had talked with county counselor Delton Gilliland
about “questions about what authority they have to shut our
court system down.”
“I’ve done a little checking, but don’t have a
definitive answer on that,” Fromme said, indicating he had
spoken with an administrative judge from the state Supreme Court.
He said he had tried to call Flott “ to see if they’re
serious about saying we can’t have more than 49…”
“I’m certain that if we try to call a jury trial, with
the selection process, I know we’d be over that number,”
Fromme said.
Gilliland said magistrate judge Stephen Jones had told him “it’s
not unusual for him to be close to that number” on busy court
days.
Gilliland noted that the second floor alone usually has at least
half that number, including employees and people conducting business
in public offices.
“Typically on the last day of the month, there’s quite
a line at the tag office,” Gilliland said. “I’ve
seen 15 people in that line on the last day of the month.”
Fromme questioned how the county intended to proceed.
“We’re dealing with an architect to work toward compliance,”
Gilliland said. Preliminary review of the safety violations has
been undertaken by Treanor Architects. The company made an offer
to the county Sept. 29 to design solutions to satisfy the code violations
for a fee of $9,338. Commissioners have not signed the agreement.
Osage County Commissioner Carl Meyer noted the courthouse has been
designated a historical building, which could cause conflict between
historical requirements and the fire marshal’s mandates.
“The historical society can get pretty jumpy about modifications
made to the original configuration,” Gilliland said. “I
can’t help but think that at least between the two state agencies,
the issue can be resolved somehow.”
“I’ll try to use whatever clout that I have and the
Supreme Court, or whoever I can utilize to bring into this project,
to try and see that they are not able to prevent us from holding
court and conducting jury trials,” Fromme said. “We
should try to come up with something here that in the long run satisfies
them.”
“It’s not being ignored, and it’s not going to
be ignored,” Gilliland said. “It’s just a question
of trying to come to some resolution.”
“Well I’m guessing that the only way they’ll put
their foot down is if we said we’re not doing it and we’re
going to ignore it,” Fromme said. “As long as we’re
trying to come up with some plan, they’ll probably go along
with us.”
Osage County Commissioner Larry Woodson said he believed the county
should begin correcting the violations.
“The thing that really sticks in my craw is the 49 and the
number of people being able to hold court up there,” Woodson
said. “That’s a stretch of what they should and could
be doing without jeopardizing public safety.”
“It’s a process we’ll have to start,” Meyer
agreed.
Fromme told the commissioners he would speak with Flott and report
to Gilliland the results of the conversation.
Osage County Clerk Rhonda Beets said she would be sending a reply
to Flott’s letter, and suggested to commissioners that hiring
Treanor could be reported as progress toward correcting the violations.
“When you make a decision on that, that’s another thing
we can tell them,” Beets said. |
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