Courthouse will close early for active shooter drill

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Walt Jackson seemingly is always on the move.

The Henry County Emergency Management director told county supervisors Thursday that he would like the county courthouse to close at 4 p.m. Thursday, June 16, for an active shooter drill.

?I would like to get everybody together in the rotunda at 4 p.m. and explain the procedure,? Jackson began. ?We are going to fire blanks at every level (in the courthouse).?

Jackson said after the staff meeting, employees will return to their offices and guns will fire blanks on all three floors of the building. ?This year, we are just going to hear what the gun sounds like,? he explained. ?I have no idea how a gun sounds in this building.?

He is planning a larger drill next year at the courthouse with an active shooter roaming the courthouse.

Supervisors approved Jackson?s request.

The emergency management director also told the board that he is planning a training on aviation searches for a missing person on June 15. Helicopters from Waterloo will be on hand for the training. Two sessions are scheduled ? from 1-3 p.m. and from 6-8 p.m.

Finally, he announced that he will attempt to bring county school superintendents, principals and law enforcement together sometime in October to draft an emergency response plan for schools.

Sarah Berndt, county coordinator of disability services/general assistance director, gave her monthly report at yesterday?s board meeting. Berndt said she is about to screen candidates for the jailhouse transition coordinator.

She has received approximately 32 applications for the position with the application deadline today (Friday).

?I have about a dozen candidates who meet all the guidelines,? she said. ?I will probably give the county sheriffs 10 applications and have them choose six finalists.?

Berndt, who directs the program, hopes to have the coordinator hired by the middle of June. ?I hope it will be a long-term relationship with whom we hire,? she remarked.

In her general assistance report, she said that the county has funded six burials at $2,000 each during the current fiscal year, leaving funds for two more burials for indigents.

She said Henry County?s financial help for burials for indigents is ?probably one of the most generous among the counties.? Lee County, she said, will only pay expenses if a funeral home in that county is handling the arrangements. Other counties do not pay as much per burial as Henry, Berndt added.

Berndt also suggested studying the county?s (personal income) guidelines for general assistance. ?As far as general assistance goes, we are more generous than the law.?

The general assistance director said that perhaps the county should amend its guidelines to correspond with the national poverty guidelines.?

Supervisors had no comment on the matter.

The board will meet again in regular session Tuesday, May 31, at 9 a.m., in the Henry County Courthouse.