Hour photo/Chris Palermo. Charles Hankerson helps Zoltan Bona at Norwalk City Hall Wednesday afternoon.
NORWALK -- Visitors to Norwalk City Hall may have noticed a stepped-up security presence.
Two retractable-belt stanchions stand at the atrium entrance, each with a sign reading "Enter Here," to funnel visitors to a desk at which sits a uniformed security guard. Visitors, however, needn't pass between the stanchions and engage the guard before moving onward into City Hall.
"It's more like a traffic-control environment so we can have people come to the desk and, if they need help, we can steer them," said Charles Hankerson, lead security officer with Century Protective Services, Inc. "If you know where you need to go, we don't stop you. But we will ask you how you're doing and stuff like that."
In April, the Common Council approved a one-year contract with Century Protective Services of White Plains, N.Y., to provide a daytime and nighttime security guard at City Hall for a cost not to exceed $81,536. The contract, which has two one-year renewal options, also provides for weekend security, as needed for special events, for an annual cost of up to $19,360.
The White Plains company is also providing security services at the Main Library and South Norwalk Library for a cost not to exceed $76,400 in the first year.
Mayor Harry W. Rilling said the security guard at City Hall is there to assist the volunteer working at the security desk and to offer a degree of protection.
"The vast majority of people that come to City Hall are cheerful and happy, but periodically we get people that might be a little angry," Rilling said. "It's nice to have a visible (security) presence there."
Rilling described that security presence as "friendly."
On Tuesday afternoon, Hankerson and his evening-shift co-worker directed a visitor to a city department.
"You want to go down this hallway and you want to make a left and it's the second door on the right," Hankerson's co-worker told the visitor.
Norwalk Fire Chief Denis McCarthy, who is also the city's emergency management director, said the new security presence stems from the school security plan developed in Norwalk after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December 2012.
"We made a decision in emergency management to use that emergency plan format that was developed for Norwalk Public Schools and replicate it for City Hall," said McCarthy, who sat on the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission formed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. "We expect to train the entire staff of City Hall and the Health Department on that safety sand security plan this fall."
McCarthy noted that the new security services contract provides for a daytime as well as evening security guard. Under the old contract, a security guard was in place only from 4 p.m. to midnight.
"The purpose is to provide better customer service. There are a lot of visitors to City Hall looking for information," McCarthy said. "It's is a public building. We want to make sure that it is open and that the environment is still welcoming but also to provide a little bit more security for the staff that works at City Hall."
Century Protective Services guards began their work at City Hall in early July, working initially from the security desk in the center of the first-floor atrium.
This week, the guards were moved from the security desk to a portable table closer to the entrance of the building and the stanchions were put into place to direct visitors toward the table.
Michael G. Sgobbo, the city's property manager, said the security officers were relocated to accommodate repair work that will start next week on the leaky dome roof above the security desk. But the new location is also more functional, according to Sgobbo.
"It presents a more personable touch to the community rather than having the security officers set back in more or less the center of the building," Sgobbo said. "We're going to take a look and see how that works and we may decide to keep them there (after the repairs)."