Tensions Boil Over at County Meeting

Fayette County Emergency Management Chief Craig Moreau took some heat at the Commissioners Court meeting last Thursday, Dec. 8, over security concerns at the Courthouse.

Moreau was giving his regular monthly report at the meeting when Pct. 4 Commissioner Drew Brossmann asked him about the status of security upgrades in light of the recent break-in at the Fayette County Courthouse last month.

Moreau said he has ordered security equipment and some of it is starting to arrive. He said some items were backordered due to computer chip supply issues. Moreau heads up courthouse security for the County.

“How long have you had it ordered?” asked Pct. 3 Commissioner Harvey Berckenhoff. “It’s already December. From January 1, since the beginning of this year, we’ve all been doing our work. Why is it December, this year is already shot, and we don’t have anything done yet?”

Earlier this year, Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom proposed a plan to employ two of the County’s constables as courthouse security officers. The Commissioners Court authorized the plan and the constables have been on the job for several months.

“The only thing we have in place are the Constables, who are doing a very good job, that Jason recommended,” Berckenhoff said. “Without them, we wouldn’t have any security in the courthouse. I don’t think this courthouse is any more secure today, other than the constables, than it was a year or two years ago.

“I mean, come on,” Berckenhoff added. “The year is almost out. We just had a break-in here, which could have turned into something really ugly. Who’s investigating that? Have they found anybody? How can somebody be able to roam around this courthouse. If they were in Peggy Supak’s office, the Judge’s office, I mean, the guy could have started a fire and took off. How can somebody get in here? What about cameras outside? Are there cameras outside?”

“I don’t want to discuss cameras in open court,” Moreau said.

“We do not own any cameras.”

Berckenhoff asked Moreau why the courthouse doesn’t have any security cameras.

“They’ve been ordered,” Moreau said.

“It’s too late now, it’s too late,” Berckenhoff said. “It’s a year, Craig. I do my work and in the first six months it’s already done. You let the hazard mitigation plan run out. You didn’t order the pickup you were supposed to and you tried to push a different truck on us. That’s ridiculous. Nothing has been secure here. It’s been a year and nothing has been done. If I took a year and did nothing with my budget, I wouldn’t have a job. People would say, ‘Get someone else in here who can get something done.’” It was the second time a commissioner publicly rebuked Moreau. At a meeting back in July, Brossmann grilled Moreau over pickup and hazard mitigation plan, among other things.

Berckenhoff referenced Moreau’s recent appearance in a news segment on KVUE-TV of Austin about hospital closures.

“You’ve got time to go do an interview with KVUE News about hospitals but you don’t have time to sit down and order cameras?” Berckenhoff said. “Ninety percent of the people in this courthouse are women, and some of them come in before others. They don’t need to be in here when someone’s been roaming all night long.”

The lashing went on until County Judge Joe Weber intervened.

“Commissioner, you’ve made your point,” Weber said. “I suggest you get with the emergency management coordinator after this and you can go into some more details.”

The exchange filled the courtroom with a general feeling of awkwardness. Fayetteville Mayor Mike Stroup was in the audience, and he expressed his feelings to the Record after the meeting: “I just wanted to speak my concern about the way Mr. Moreau was spoken to by the commissioner from Flatonia,” Stroup said. “I believe it was uncalled for and very much seemed political and very repetitive.”

After the meeting, Moreau described Berckenhoff’s remarks as “clearly and obviously politically motivated.”

Moreau said he has spoken with Berckenhoff and other commissioners multiple times about courthouse security.

“It was rehashing old things that weren’t a problem to begin with,” Moreau said. “Nothing says you have to spend 100 percent of your budget in January. I think that’s fiscally irresponsible. We have a process of how we spend money with courthouse security funds.”

He said the County’s courthouse security committee, which includes the Sheriff, district judge, county judge and other county officials, decides how to spend security dollars for the courthouse.

“It comes out of my budget, but it’s not a unilateral decision whatsoever,” he said.

Moreau said he made several security proposals that the committee rejected over cost concerns.

“In the first week in January, I proposed having a full-time security person at the courthouse,” Moreau said. “That would have used up most or all of those funds. That was rejected.”

Moreau called Berckenhoff’s comments “unprofessional.”

“Frankly, it’s clearly political,” Moreau said. “We’ve had multiple discussions this week about various topics and none of these things come up until they look for little zingers to throw in during Commissioners Court.”

The Record asked Moreau why it has taken so long for the County install security cameras at the historic courthouse.

“I would love to have cameras in the courthouse,” Moreau said. “I put together three proposals and they were all rejected by the courthouse security committee. We have ordered some low-tech alternatives, but at least its something. We’re waiting on those to come in.”

Complicating the issue, Moreau said a federal law prohibits government buildings from using cameras with electronic chips manufactured in China. The law is aimed at preventing Chinese espionage. However, he said 100-percent American made security systems are expensive and suffer from supply chain backlogs.

“It’s incredibly expensive,” Moreau said.

Moreau ran for County Judge in the Republican Primary back in March and advanced to the runoff. He lost a heated campaign against Dan Mueller, who will take office on January 1. The Record asked Moreau about his plans after Mueller takes office.

“My job and my desire is to make this County as safe and resilient as possible,” Moreau said. “I plan to do that as long as the County will have me. If he makes other decisions, we’ll deal with that as it comes up. I anticipate that I’ll be able to work very well with any county judge.”