Someone in Pasco County government recently decided there wasn’t any Feng Shui friendliness in bullet proof barriers. Two weeks ago they ordered $22,000 worth of security glass removed from the customer service area at the county’s new $9 million dollar water utility headquarters.
“It’s not really what we’re looking for as an inviting way of bringing customers in,” said Pasco County spokesman Doug Tobin. “Sometimes when you build a building you look at it and say that isn’t exactly what we had in mind.”
There are rumors flying inside the ranks of utility workers who will staff the new building that the person who raised a fit about the security glass was a county commissioner. They’re privately raising safety concerns. Tobin insists he doesn’t know who decided the bullet proof glass didn’t fit the tone of the new building but that County Administrator Michele Baker made the final call to remove the glass at a cost of an additional $3000.
“That’s a waste,” said Pasco water customer Pauline Watts.
She and thousands of other water customers will pay for the bullet proof glass along with everything else in the $9 million dollar water utility headquarters that Pasco County officials will dedicate next week.
“That’s why my water bill is so expensive,” Watts said.
Tobin insists the security panels won’t go to waste because the Pasco Sheriff wants to use them inside the courthouse. Either way, Pasco County water users will pay for them.
Copyright WFLA 2015. All rights reserved.
