Union County commissioners weigh $50,000 in security, safety upgrades

Nearly $50,000 in security and safety requests moved before Union County commissioners as the county looks to insurance-related funding pools to cover upgrades at the courthouse, jail and government center in Lewisburg.

At Tuesday morning’s public work session at the UC Government Center, Human Resources Director Sonia Showers outlined a $27,364 request to the Pennsylvania Counties Risk Pool and a separate $20,803 request to the Pennsylvania Counties Workers’ Compensation Trust. Together, the projects would touch the buildings and systems residents rely on most: courthouse alarm system updates, smoke detectors for the Mifflinburg Government Building, water sensors for the government center and courthouse, jail entrance security upgrades, camera recording system upgrades, badge software, new FOBs and keycards, no-outlet signs, orange cones and underground cable for a parking lot camera.

The spending plan shows where county leaders are placing their emphasis. Union County says its commissioners are responsible for policy making, fiscal management, county buildings, emergency services and 9-1-1 communications, so the proposed projects fall squarely into the daily machinery of county government. The government center itself is at 155 N. 15th St. in Lewisburg, alongside the courthouse operations that would be affected by alarm, camera and water-detection work.

The second request would put more direct equipment in the hands of public-safety staff. It includes two Tasers for the sheriff’s office, body cameras for correctional officers, body armor, radios, jail restraints, disinfecting spray and a back brace for an employee. Showers told commissioners the county still has $2,635 left in PCoRP funding and $14,196 left in PComp funding, leaving open the question of how much more the county can realistically ask those pools to absorb before the deadlines close in.

If the insurance-backed money does not materialize, the county would have to decide whether to delay the upgrades, scale them back or cover more of the cost through its own budget. That choice lands on projects that are not cosmetic: alarms, detectors, cameras, radios and jail security are the kind of capital and operational tools that determine how safely employees work and how well the county can protect the public.

The work session also touched a smaller but practical purchase. The Union County Conservation District wants to buy a Ford Ranger pickup for mosquito and tick surveillance, and bids have already been opened from two dealerships. The district, formed March 6, 1957, under Act 217, lists Ryleigh Faust as its mosquito-borne disease program coordinator.

The timing of the discussion overlapped with National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, which ran April 12 through April 18. Pennsylvania’s emergency management agency highlighted the observance on April 14, and the state House adopted Resolution 429 recognizing the same week, a reminder that dispatchers and 9-1-1 staff are part of the same public-safety chain the county is trying to reinforce.