City Hall & Beyond

Apr 1, 2005 12:00 PM, by Carol Carey

Five years ago, access control for city employees in Eugene, Ore., was relatively uncomplicated: more than 500 employees were issued proximity cards to access the city's 9-1-1 center.

Today, some 3,500 employees, volunteers, contractors and vendors have been issued prox/ID cards to access city buildings as diverse as City Hall, which houses the Police Services Center and city manager's offices, public works sites, the Eugene Downtown Public Library, three fire stations and the Hult Center for the Performing Arts.

Several factors have contributed to the dramatic increase in the scope of Eugene's security program. One was the intensified awareness of security needs following the Sept. 11 attacks. Another was the availability of a more flexible, user-friendly system from the city's vendor, GE Security. Finally, the imminent completion of a new library with its mix of public and private facilities prompted officials to take a fresh look at the city's security needs. Eugene is Oregon's third-largest city, with a population of 140,000.

“Our new library opened two years ago, and has a mix of public space and private staff areas,” explains Ron Sutton, Eugene's facility operations and maintenance manager. “We have our finance and information services departments on the building's fourth floor, while the library public and staff areas are on the first three floors. The ability to control access very specifically to different areas and on different schedules became a focus of our efforts.”

Eugene's approach was to expand upon its use of a citywide infrastructure of fiber-optic cable that had been dedicated to the city's LAN. Three years ago, city officials decided to upgrade from their original access control software to GE Security's Sapphire Pro system (formerly InfoGraphics). The system's greater capacity, flexibility, scope and ease-of-use made it a better fit for the city's changing security needs.

“Initially, we just had a certain number of employees with access cards. As we expanded the security system, we made the decision to use these access cards for employee IDs as well as access control,” Sutton says.

This meant that all employees would be given badges and their data entered into the system. “There was a big push to get this work done before the new library opened. We went from having approximately 500 employees on the system to providing 2,500 employees with proximity cards,” Sutton says. The system has since been expanded to include volunteers, temporary employees, contractors and vendors as well. Approximately 3,500 individuals have been issued HID ISOProx II cards.

Although a challenge to implement, the expanded system has brought a new sense of organization and order to the city's security program. “The process of bringing the whole city employee group on board and adding additional buildings to the system was demanding but ultimately rewarding,” Sutton says. While there was some employee resistance to the change, it is now widely accepted and appreciated.

“When you want to implement or expand your access control system,” Sutton says, “you have to look at how that system accommodates your individual organization. This new system gives us a lot of flexibility to deal with different departments' priorities and also to look at future needs. In our case, we need to accommodate cultures as different as the police, public works, the library, the 9-1-1 center, and the city manager's office.”

Conditional unlock feature

GE Security's Sapphire Pro access control system is housed in a PC at the city's Facility Management Division offices, along with an Eltron P420 card printer, which is used to badge all employees. The software can be accessed from workstations at the 9-1-1 center, the public works division and the facility management office. Eight surveillance cameras are integrated into the system.

“The system's conditional unlock feature lets us program doors to automatically unlock for a period of time, for instance, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., for public access. Then, the doors will lock again, requiring access cards for admission,” Sutton says.

Within a specific division, employees, the public, volunteers and vendors may all have different access levels. Some departments with numerous access levels include the city manager's office, human resources and the police services division. While some doors in these divisions have conditional unlock to allow the public access at certain times, others can be accessed only by card 24 hours a day.

For example, the Police Services Department has a public reception area. Also, within the Public Works Department, the Parks and Open Spaces Division allows for controlled public access to people requesting permits for use of park facilities and to vendors making deliveries.

Because of the complexity of the access levels assigned to various employees, individuals and employee groups, Sutton says that a clear and streamlined administrative policy must be followed. “You really want to control access to this system so that you have consistent data entry and consistent procedures,” he says, noting that only he and building maintenance technician Dave Scalley operate the system on a day-to-day basis, with Scalley doing much of the badging. Cards are issued by appointment to help Sutton and Scalley balance security needs with the other requirements of the department.

“We don't arbitrarily assign access permissions. We check with the department contacts before we change, eliminate or add access permissions to anyone,” Sutton says. “It is important that all of our internal customers have confidence in the integrity of the system. Being able to access by groups is a benefit of this system, which also has a greater capacity than our previous one.”

City's LAN uses fiber optics

The Sapphire Pro system runs on the city's LAN, which uses a dedicated portion of Eugene's extensive underground fiber-optic network. That network is also shared by private businesses and Lane County departments. More than 180 card readers at 14 city buildings are connected by six-conductor overall shield copper wire to 25 ACUXL Networked Intelligent Controllers, and, in some cases, to Remote Reader Electronic Modules (RRE). These modules are used for expansion, explains Gary Selander, engineering specialist for Siemens Building Technologies, the installer/integrator for the Sapphire Pro system. Readers used include HID Corp. MiniProx, ProProx and MaxiProx Readers.

The ACU's are located near communication rooms, and these units are connected directly to the city's LAN. Internet ports enable the Sapphire Pro program to run on three workstations.

The MaxiProx readers are used for vehicle access in conjunction with the ProxPass, an active tag attached to the vehicle. The ProxPass is used for the city's fleet of more than 500 vehicles, including those belonging to the public works, police and fire departments. Access is specific to a particular vehicle's function. “We can program a public works vehicle to gain permission to enter equipment servicing areas, but not public safety or police complexes,” Sutton says. “Access is programmed for vehicle gates. The active tag is a plastic case containing a power source which allows greater read range than that of a typical proximity card, and is put on the inside of a vehicle's windshield.”

Cameras integrated with access

Eight fixed and pan/tilt/zoom cameras have been integrated with the Sapphire Pro system. These cameras are located at city hall and at the public works complex. They include Bosch fixed Day/Night VariDome cameras at city hall, which have an impact-resistant cast aluminum housing with a polycarbonate dome. The cameras automatically switch from color to black-and-white operation as lighting decreases, and are suitable for outdoor use and for widely different lighting conditions. Bosch UNPDN Series high-resolution day/night prepackaged cameras, available in both indoor and outdoor models, are also used, as are Pelco Spectra III Dome Positioning System pan/tilt/zoom cameras.

Cameras are connected to an InVision integrated digital video recorder, which includes an intelligent access control panel. Eight card readers are also connected to the InVision panel, achieving integration of the cameras with access control readers.

In addition to the integrated cameras, there are eight to 10 others that are not integrated with the Sapphire Pro system.

Outside alarm monitoring

“When there's a security breach, we have a multi-layered approach,” Sutton says. A Best Access lock-and-key system, used more widely before the installation of the Sapphire Pro system, is used on a limited number of doors. Sonitrol performs security monitoring for the city, covering both key and electronically controlled access points. When an alarm comes into the Sonitrol office, designated individuals are immediately notified and dispatched.

Employee acceptance widespread

Although there was some resistance when the change was made from the lock-and-key system to electronic access control, people have enthusiastically accepted the new system, Sutton says, noting that reprogramming is far easier with the electronic system.

“The new system works well for us,” Sutton says. “What the police, public works, library and city manager's office need in terms of access are very different; they represent very different priorities. We feel we have a flexible system that balances security with access for both our city staff and the public.”

At the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, for instance, the public can freely enjoy an art exhibit, mingle in the lobby and fill the performance halls; but access is limited at backstage areas such as dressing rooms, back entrances to the halls and administrative offices.

Similarly, at the 120,000-square-foot city hall, which has 400 employees, certain human resources offices, courts, and the front reception area for the city manager's office are open to the public during business hours, as is the police services reception area. But administrative offices for police, city government employees and judge's chambers are covered by the access control system.

With the help of a security system that allows for flexible programming within a given building or complex, Eugene has been successful in making its public buildings both accessible for the public and safe for employees and other regular visitors.

FOR THE RECORD

About the Companies

For information, circle the Reader Service number (listed below) or visit securitysolutions.com

Best Access Systems	31
Bosch	32
GE Security	33
HID Corp.	34
Pelco	35
Siemens Building Technologies	36
Sonitrol	37
Zebra/Eltron	38

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