CASSOPOLIS — The Cass County Board of Commissioners is thinking seriously about security.

The commissioners discussed Tuesday ways to keep county employees safer. The discussion about security in the county building was broached earlier this month at an April 17 Committee of the Whole meeting by employees in the treasurer’s office. The employees said they did not feel safe at work due to insufficient security in the building and customer intimidation.

“These girls are afraid to come to work,” said Cass County Treasure Linda Pruett at the April 17 meeting.

These concerns prompted commissioners to do some research into the issue. Since that meeting, a security committee, including representatives from the Cass County Sheriff’s Office and County Administrator Karen Folks, met to discuss security options for building.

“There were a number of issues discussed. Those included looking at locks, cameras, key fobs, panic buttons, employee only bathrooms,” Folks said about what was discussed at the security meeting. “We also discussed limiting access to the third floor, active shooter training, training to diffuse volatile situations, or in other words, training with employees.”

Other topics discussed included adding a police officer presence to the county building and adding a one-pay window.

Folks said she has requested reports about the costs and the logistics of the added security measures. The security team will meet again at noon Wednesday to further discuss the issue.

“We will try to narrow down what we will put forward as recommendations,” Folks said.

Several commissioners reacted favorably to the meeting on security, saying that it was important to find out what is needed to be done to secure the county building.

“Our goal is to make sure our employees are safe,” said commissioner Robert Ziliak.

Cass County Sheriff Richard Behnke said that new security measures have already been put in place at the county building since the security meeting.

“We have been clearing out windows, so that there is a clear vision into offices,” Behnke said. “And there have also been some other things, such as taking things off of desks so that they can’t be used as projectiles against someone.”

After the secondary meeting Wednesday, specific security recommendations will be brought back to the board of commissioners at its next committee of the whole meeting on April 15 to be voted on at a later date.

Items to be voted on at 7 p.m. Thursday as part of the board of commissioners meeting:

• The board will vote on whether to approve a State Disaster Contingency Fund, which would help the county recover losses incurred during the flooding in February.

• The board will vote on whether to approve a $10,300 mental health grant for the Cass County Circuit Court.