HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Reno County Commission made pretty quick work of the items on its agenda with the exception of one.

Any decision on security services for the courthouse was tabled until next week so that Reno County Sheriff Randy Henderson could be at the meeting to explain his thoughts on how many people are needed to handle security once the new main entrance to the courthouse is complete.

The plans are to use private armed security guards at the entrance to operate a walk-through scanner and a magnetometer and to monitor security cameras. A sworn deputy sheriff would be designated as the county’s contact person for the purpose of overseeing the execution of this contract.

There would also be a person acting as a rover, which the commissioners consider too costly. Commission Chair Dan Deming called it overkill. The cost of the contract and pay for the roving officer could bring the cost to as much as $225,000 according to Deming. The other two commissioners agreed, but want to hear from Sheriff Henderson before making any decision.

So, the commission tabled that item to next week. The contract the commission is considering is with VendTech Enterprise, LLC of Wichita.

Construction on the secure entrance to the courthouse is expected to begin anytime now and is expected to be complete by Sept. 1

The commission did agree to set Aug. 9 as the date for the official public hearing over next year’s budget. They also plan to have an informal hearing on Aug. 3 at 7 p.m. at the Hutchinson Public Library as well.

The budget for 2017 raises the mill levy one mill, which equals $564,000. That brings the total mill levy for the county to 41.897 mills. The total budget is $55,363,165.