HERMANN — Gasconade County might become the latest county in the region to upgrade security at its courthouse.

County government administrators Thursday morning heard a brief presentation that included a description of putting devices not just on the courthouse doors, but individual department entrances, as well, from a Chesterfield-based company.

Matt Buydos of Elliott Data Systems, Inc., gave the abbreviated presentation, having only about 15 minutes to outline the company’s services before the County Commission went into a closed session to discuss personnel matters.

Buydos said Montgomery County government is one of the company’s most recent customers. He said the project in that county was a big one, noting that security devices were placed “on every single door” in the courthouse.

Presiding Commissioner Larry Miskel, R-Hermann, said he and Associate Commissioners Jerry Lairmore, R-Owensville, and Jim Holland, R-Hermann, have talked about an upgrade for some time. “We’ve been discussing some kind of security upgrades for a while,” Miskel said.

He said the county’s officeholders need to be consulted to see if they think there is a need for increased security. “I think that what we need to do is a needs assessment,” the presiding commissioner said.

Buydos will follow up for more discussion with the Commission in about a month, he said.

In other matters at last week’s session, Mike Mueller, the incoming administrator of Hermann Area Ambulance District, asked for county government financial support for the construction of a new, taller communications tower. Mueller asked the administrators about using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to pay for a 300-foot tower to replace the much shorter, aging tower now used by the ambulance agency and Hermann Area District Hospital.

Mueller said the cost estimate of the tower being proposed is $244,000. The site of the proposed tower is owned by the county, Mueller said. Also, he said, the county could lease space on the tower to other agencies.

Mueller, who will be succeeding the retiring Doug Clark, the longtime administrator of the ambulance district, said other options considered for replacing the 180-foot, outdated tower now being used were “far more (expensive) than we can afford with our budget.”

Holland voiced concern about what could be a complicated arrangement with multiple users. “If we get involved in that at all, we’d really have to look at some contracts,” Holland said.

Miskel asked if the ambulance district has a back-up plan in case the aging tower fails.

“Not at the current moment,” Mueller said.

The Commission took no action on the district’s request.

Lairmore offered a reminder to businesses in the county about the availability of small-business funding through Meramec Regional Planning Commission (MRPC). “It’s a lot of paperwork, but it can be done,” Lairmore said.

Miskel added the program has been a popular one for local businesses. “There are a lot of businesses in the county that have participated,” he said.

Meanwhile, Miskel said there have been no updates recently regarding legal actions by counties against opioid manufacturers and marketers. Especially regarding Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmidt’s latest effort to persuade counties to drop their legal action, which might hinder Missouri’s ability to collect as much as a half-billion dollars from opioid manufacturers.

The counties, which include Gasconade, banded together in recent years to try and collect funds to compensate for local tax dollars used to respond to opioid overdoses.

“I’ve not heard anything,” Miskel said.