Security planned to protect city water-related sites

Stevens Point officials hope security systems will keep unwanted visitors out of the wastewater treatment plant and the Water Department garage.

Members of the Water and Sewage Commission agreed Monday to pay Horgan Sales & Service, Inc. $9,700 to install motion sensors and other security measures at the sites and to pay $69 per month in monitoring fees for the system.

The security system improvements are in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon.

“Since Sept. 11, everyone has this big initiative to make their facilities secure,” said Kim Halverson, administrative services manager for the Water and Sewage Treatment departments. “Protect what you've got.”

Security alarms already are in place at the water operations, said Gregory Disher, director. The system at the sewage treatment facility and the garage will enable supervisors to keep track of who and when someone enters those sites, Halverson said.

If an intruder trips the alarms, the Stevens Point Police Department will be notified and will respond, she said.

There haven't been problems with unauthorized people at the sewage treatment plant, Disher said. However, several years ago, someone broke into the garage and stole trucks and equipment, he said. Police later recovered some of the equipment, he said.

(Stevens Point Journal -- March 12, 2002)

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