[T]he state is installing a series of security enhancements in an effort to improve safety in Vermont offices, but the union that represents state employees questions whether the measures are enough.
The upgrades come nearly one year after the shooting death of social worker Lara Sobel.
Human Services Secretary Hal Cohen sent an email to employees recently outlining steps the state plans to take to improve security.
The state is implementing “several important physical enhancements” this year, he wrote. They include adjusting state office complexes so there is a single entrance point, creating safety glass secured reception areas, and installing panic buttons, lockdown buttons and security cameras.
According to the email, onsite security teams are currently in place in five buildings that house AHS offices. There are plans to put security in four other agency buildings, and a request for funding for onsite security at five additional locations will be in the next state budget.
“Remaining safe is not a passive process; we all play a role in maintaining safety and security at work,” Cohen wrote in the email.
The Vermont State Employees’ Association, the union that represents state workers, questions how effective those measures truly are.
VSEA President Dave Bellini wrote a letter recently calling for several more drastic steps to address security, including securing all parking lots, installing trained law enforcement officers at all state office buildings, and establishing an independent “safety czar” position to coordinate efforts.
Bellini wrote that state employees have been patient but have seen “little change” in security at workplaces since Sobel’s shooting Aug. 7.
“Taking a full year to address a serious safety crisis is not acceptable,” he wrote.
VSEA Executive Director Steve Howard said Tuesday that union members view security “as a crisis and as an emergency,” and he charged that the administration does not share the sense of urgency.
“They don’t have people who are addicted to opiates sitting in front of them threatening them,” Howard said.
Howard pointed out that there is a police force on site in the Statehouse every day while many state buildings do not have security guards in place.
“There’s nobody in the Statehouse who is enforcing a judge’s order to take someone’s children away,” Howard said.
Howard said union members are grateful for the security investments. However, he added, “it’s not nearly enough.”
Dawn O’Toole, AHS chief operations officer, said Tuesday that the agency needed to wait to make many security changes until the state budgeting process was complete.
“We don’t control the money, so we were relying on the Legislature to appropriate funds for this,” O’Toole said.
Once the capital bill and budget bill passed the Legislature, O’Toole began working with the Department of Buildings and General Services on a plan to improve security at buildings with AHS offices.
BGS completed site surveys of offices throughout the state last year. Using a matrix, they prioritized the sites for upgrades.
O’Toole said she would like to see more security personnel onsite throughout the state. A position pilot program in BGS is allowing the state to stretch resources for security guards, she said.
However, she said putting law enforcement officers at every office is “extremely expensive” and likely beyond the resources the state can afford.
For this year, the Legislature approved $1 million in the capital budget for security upgrades. The budget bill included $500,000 for security, part of which is being reserved pending a decision about benefits offered to family members of state workers who die on the job.
The largest share of the money for physical upgrades will go to installing safety reception windows — a total of $286,000. The money will also cover the installation of security cameras for $184,000, as well as pay for putting in lockdown and panic buttons.
An additional $92,950 will fund an assessment of exterior building safety, which will include parking lots near offices. BGS has already taken action to try to make one parking lot, near an office building in Springfield, safer.
Given the limited resources this year, O’Toole said, the state needed to prioritize.
“We were trying to figure out how to get the biggest bang for our buck,” O’Toole said.