A revision of bid specifications for security services at the Lyon County fairgrounds was approved by county commissioners after lengthy discussion at Thursday’s regular action session.
The revision came after commissioners last week rejected the sole bid for security, from Bryan Silverson of Silverson Security Services, expressed reservations about the county’s requirement that security guards carry no weapons of any kind. That led to a discussion of the purposes of security services and the role of guards at events. Silverson said last week that his reservations stemmed from a reluctance to reduce guards, in cases where help is needed, to the role of observers while they wait for police officers or sheriff’s deputies to show up. In cases where danger is present, Silverson argued, guards should at least have access to non-lethal weapons such as pepper spray or Tasers.
The new specifications allow for guards to carry non-lethal weapons and spell out other county requirements, such as liability insurance and a specific prohibition of firearms.
“We had on there that weapons weren’t allowed at all, and now we’ve changed that to allow for at least non-lethal weapons,” said Sam Seeley, director of Lyon County zoning.
Other changes include clarification on how much insurance is required and for what, Seeley said.
After rejecting the original bid and changing the specifications, the county will publish a call for proposals in the coming days.
The county can expect at least one more proposal after Jesse Solis of Solis and Solis Security commented on the process.
“We provided security at the fairgrounds for a long time,” Solis told commissioners, “and we never had any weapons. And I think our bilingualism will be a benefit, so I will be submitting a bid.”
Commissioners also signed documents finalizing payments for the Rural Water District 1 water improvement project with contractors Ditch Diggers and Heartland Midwest. The county approved final payments of $101,711 to Ditch Diggers and $6,139 to Heartland Midwest for improvements to waterlines in Americus.
fhtcboy (anonymous) says...
Hey does anyone know if any of these security services are hiring? I would like a job in security
November 19, 2011 at 6:40 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )