MEADVILLE — Crawford County officials are continuing their push for tighter security at a courthouse they say is vulnerable to something bad happening.

Crawford County Court Administrator John Shuttleworth and Sheriff Nick Hoke presented county commissioners Tuesday with an addendum to an earlier security plan, developed by Hoke, that they said should be acted on quickly to address key problem areas at the Meadville courthouse.

Discussion on the matter is expected to continue during the commissioners’ regular meeting on Thursday. Shuttleworth said the county’s three judges indicated that they would attend the meeting to ask what direction county leaders want to take in advancing an enhanced security plan.

Shuttleworth and Hoke wrote the addendum following a trip in late April to Washington County, where they toured the courthouse to learn about its security measures. Although that county’s overall security plan was superior to Crawford County’s, there is some better equipment and fewer access points to monitor here, Shuttleworth said.

The problem areas that need immediate attention, according to Shuttleworth, include the Crawford County Courthouse’s main entrance. The security monitors who work there now are unarmed and aren’t trained in security, according to the addendum. It suggests replacing them with sheriff’s deputies, with an additional cost to the county of about $50,000 a year.

The addendum also recommends purchasing and installing a security camera system for $6,719.29. The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts has guaranteed a $5,500 grant toward the system’s purchase, but the system would have to be purchased before July 27 in order to get the money, according to the addendum.

The report also recommends limiting accessibility to the judges’ chambers through a swipe-card access door system, employing a similar system between the prisoner holding area and the ground floor hallway, and purchasing two shock belts for moving prisoners.

It additionally recommends upgrading the duress alarm system by providing county officials with panic buttons to carry.

Commissioners gave little indication on whether they would support the upgraded security plan. But Commissioner Chairman Morris Waid bemoaned the need for such increased security as a failure of the U.S. judicial system and noted that the courthouse wasn’t built to be a secure building.

Waid said that instead of messing with the building, the county should put the court system in a bunker “because it’s not going to stop here.”

“We need a pod at the (Crawford County Correctional Facility, in Saegertown) and move all of the court systems to the jail. That may be the way to go,” he said.