Attendees at Tuesday night’s Athens-Clarke County Commission will notice new security protocols, including screening for weapons, after a series of outbursts at City Hall in recent months.
Visitors during regular business hours must now enter the building at the handicapped-accessible lower-level entrance underneath the steps facing College Avenue. For commission meetings, the entrance above will also be opened. Additional entrances may be opened as well, but most of the time they will be closed. Exits will be through security screening areas as well.
“As we implement these new measures, we ask that visitors who are attending public meetings or appointments plan ahead and allow additional time to enter City Hall,” Central Services Director Andrew Saunders said in a news release. “We expect most screenings to be a relatively quick process, but in some cases, there may be a short wait in line to move through the security area.”
The measures were in the works long before Saturday’s assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump. Commission meetings included some increasingly heated rhetoric from speakers in the wake of Israel’s October invasion of Gaza and Laken Riley’s murder in February, culminating in April with a man at the podium ripping up a pro-Palestine sign and scuffling with a police officer. Shortly after, Mayor Kelly Girtz announced that commission meetings would be moved to the Clarke County School District’s headquarters while new security measures were planned for City Hall.
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