Locked door installed in mayor's office

When Urban County Council members returned from their summer break this week, they discovered that during their absence, a locked door had been installed in the mayor’s office just past the reception area.

The door was installed for security purposes, not to keep council members out, said Susan Straub, Mayor Jim Newberry’s spokeswoman.

Despite Newberry’s intentions, council members returned to find that they could not use their city identification badges to open the locked door to get into the mayor’s office.

A technical error prevented council members from being able to open the locked door, said Shaye Rabold, Newberry’s chief of staff.

When the door was installed, the mayor’s office asked that the identification badges of council members be coded so that they could unlock the door, she said.

For some reason, the badges of council members were not activated immediately, but that has been corrected, Rabold said. Since Monday night, council members have been able to use their badges to open the locked door.

“A door in no way reflects an effort to put any barrier with the council,” Straub said. “It does reflect the world we live in and having to have some kind of security.”

A set of stairs that connects the 12th floor of the Urban County Government Center to the 11th floor is located between the outer door to the mayor’s office and the newly installed locked door. People could still get into the mayor’s 12th floor offices by taking the stairs from the 11th floor even when the outer door was locked for the evening.

Since he was elected, Newberry has made working with the council his top priority, Straub said. The mayor has invited council members over to his house for coffee and donuts, held informal receptions in the mayor’s office with the council and held retreats with the council.

The newly installed door in the mayor’s office is somewhat reminiscent of a wall that was built on the floor of the council offices in 1998.

The addition of the wall meant that visitors to the council offices were required to speak to a receptionist before they could see their council member.

The wall was built at the request of several council members who were bothered by people walking in unannounced to talk to them.

The receptionist desk at the entrance to the council offices remains, but the wall was removed several years ago.

- Michelle Ku

Comments

[Trackmasterscoob]

Newberry nooners, perhaps?

[jhw]

Or perhaps to protect him from people who post stupid comments on blogs?

Why is this even news?

Because a bunch of idiots run the Herald-Leader.

[Trackmasterscoob]

I'm baaack..Looks like Newberry needs a new lock..And jhw needs a cookie and a hug.

[Lexace]

Maybe Newberry needs a secret door like Ernie has in his office.