Starting next month, the state Capitol building will be closed for security reasons to the public on weekends except in December, a spokesman for Secretary of State Mark Martin said Tuesday.
The building was closed on weekends earlier this year, but for temporary reasons. The secretary of state's office started closing the Capitol on weekends in July because of construction projects in the building, located on the western edge of downtown in Little Rock.
"We were glad to re-open the building during the month of December, so everyone could enjoy the Christmas decorations," Chris Powell, a spokesman for Martin, said in a written statement. "After careful consideration, the secretary of state's office determined that the Capitol should continue to be closed on the weekends, following the holiday season."
There are many factors that go into this decision, he explained.
"This is a working building," Powell said. "Due to the circumstances of the world we live in today and out of an abundance of caution, we feel it is the safest measure at this time. It enables us to provide enhanced security for legislators and employees of the building whenever necessary."
Powell noted that some other state Capitols across the nation are closed on weekends.
"We do plan to open the Capitol during December of next year as we did this year," he said.
Last year, Capitol Police Chief Darrell Hedden raised the possibility of closing the Capitol on weekends and holidays to the public in a memo to the Legislative Council's Executive Subcommittee. The memo outlined steps that could be taken to make the building more secure.
The news was received with a mixed reaction from other public officials.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Tuesday that the management of the state Capitol is the responsibility of the secretary of state.
"Secretary Martin and his team [have] done an excellent job in preserving and protecting this historic building and making sure the public has access and that the building makes all Arkansans proud of our heritage," the governor said in a written statement.
"It is my preference that the state Capitol be available to the public for touring and sight-seeing at times that are convenient but I leave the specifics to the secretary of state. I hope that during times of peak demand such as spring break and summer that the Capitol can be opened on a weekend schedule," the Republican governor said in his statement. Martin is also a Republican.
Senate President Pro Tempore Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, said Tuesday that he has a "mixed" reaction to Martin's plan.
Dismang said he would like the Capitol to be open for people to visit the building, but "at the same time, there are some cost constraints, some security issues."
House Speaker Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, said he didn't realize that the secretary of state's office was going to close the Capitol to the public on weekends, except for December.
"I'll have to do some digging and ask questions," he said.
Last year, some lawmakers questioned whether the safeguards in use then at the Capitol were adequate after guards were used to tighten security at the entrance to the Multi-Agency Complex Building west of the Capitol.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Arkansas Capitol's bronze front doors were locked and metal detectors were added to screen visitors on weekends. The bronze doors are still closed and the metal detectors are used every day.
In March of this year, the secretary of state's office moved the metal detectors closer to the east entrance so that the public goes through them before reaching the elevators on the first floor.
For a time after the 2001 terrorist attacks, the Capitol police stopped vehicles attempting to enter the tunnel under the steps on the east side. Only drivers known to police were allowed to go through.
Last year, Hedden wrote in his memo that another option could be to close the tunnel to the public.
At least a few lawmakers recently referred to the possibility of installing a gate to block public access to the tunnel.
"We've had no discussions about it," Powell said.
"A number of security ideas have been looked at over the years. We looked through some files and found information from 2013 regarding potential gates on Woodlane [a street east of the state Capitol], but no action was taken. There was not a quote for tunnel gates, specifically," he said in response to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's request under the state Freedom of Information Act for any documents, including cost estimates, about limiting public access to the tunnel.
Powell said Martin's office has placed barriers to block public access to roads leading to the tunnel on weekends in recent months and plans to continue to do so in the future.
The state Capitol police is authorized to have 21 police officers and now has 20 officers, Powell said.
The House has hired a few private security officers to aid Arkansas State Police troopers during recent legislative sessions and the Bureau of Legislative Research has hired Securitas of Little Rock to secure the entrance to the Multi-Agency Complex Building, according to House and bureau officials.
Metro on 12/23/2015