Ottawa County reviews its staff CCW policy

July 13, 2004
Port Clinton News Herald

PORT CLINTON -- Ohio's concealed-carry law, which took affect in April, has county officials trying to determine a new policy to outline when and where county employees are able to carry firearms.

The Ottawa County commissioners are mulling over four possible amendments to the current county employee firearms policy. It currently states "no person shall knowingly possess, have under the person's control, convey or attempt to convey a deadly weapon or dangerous ordinance into county-owned or county-leased buildings."

County Human Resources Director Ruth Dyke has been meeting with the commissioners, as well as the sheriff's office and Prosecutor Mark Mulligan to discuss the new policies and has drafted four possible amendments that outline what is acceptable for non-law enforcement employees who are licensed to carry handguns under the new law.

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All four drafts include a provision that would prohibit any county employee (excluding law enforcement employees) from carrying a firearm in "any county-owned vehicle or at any time while acting in the course and scope or their employment." But two of the drafts add increasingly more specific provisions. One excludes "those firearms being transported in a legal manner," while the other specifies that licensed handgun owners may carry handguns but only "in the employee's personal vehicle."

The commissioners said they would prefer that the amendment be worded in such a way that every possible situation is covered.

"You don't want to adopt a policy that creates a situation you didn't intend for," said Commissioner Steve Arndt. "We want to be sure we can communicate to all of our employees what is and what isn't acceptable."

Employees who have applied for and received licenses to keep concealed weapons, said Commissioner Carl Koebel, should not be able to carry them with them on the job or in county vehicles, but should be allowed to keep them in their own vehicles.

"If someone has a handgun and is carrying it legally in their car, why should I care?" he said. "But you don't need a handgun to inspect a restaurant."

The new policy would be enforced in all of the offices that fall under the commissioners' jurisdiction which include the building inspection department, dog shelter, Emergency Management Agency, Department of Job and Family Services, recycling department, the Ottawa Regional Planning Commission, Riverview HealthCare Campus and sanitary engineering. Elected officials' offices have the option adopting the policy or not.

The commissioners said they plan on discussing the policy at the next elected officials' meeting July 29 and hope to have the policy in place "as soon after meeting as possible," Koebel said.