Law enforcement vehicles block a road to the Maine State House after a bomb threat in January. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal, file

The Maine State House complex will get a security overhaul by late 2025 after legislative leaders gave approval for the use of additional space for the project.

The $7 million security upgrade for the State House and the adjacent Burton M. Cross Office Building has been in the works since 2021 and has taken on greater significance in the wake of recent threats against lawmakers and state officials, including two bomb threats that disrupted activity at the State House in the last legislative session.

Members of the Legislative Council, which comprises party leaders from both chambers of the Maine Legislature, cleared the way for the project when they voted unanimously last week to allow a former café space near the main entrance on the west side of the State House to be used for the security improvements.

Elaine Clark, deputy commissioner of the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services, told the council that a 2021 study underscored the need for security at the Cross Building, which houses legislative committees and state offices, and is connected to the State House via an underground walkway.

“We really needed to focus on the ‘open and uncontrolled access’ to the Cross Building, which was one of our top priorities,” Clark told the council members.

The project will include a new entrance and screening facility on the south side of the Cross Building, which is currently unlocked and open during business hours.

With the improvements in place, members of the public will use the south entrance to access the building, while other entrances will be locked and accessible only to key-card holders such as lawmakers and legislative staff.

Maine Capitol Police will maintain a presence at the south entrance, while some resources will be moved to the north end of the building. Access to the building’s loading dock and legislative leadership parking area will be restricted.

People still will be able to move between the Cross Building and the State House.

The security improvements at the State House will include a new entrance and screening facility on the south side of the Cross Building, which is currently unlocked and open during business hours. The Cross Building and State House are connected by an underground walkway. Rendering courtesy Oak Point Associates

“We want to make sure that once you’ve entered one of the two buildings, the connectivity through the tunnel keeps you on the screened side and you don’t have to duplicate the effort,” Tyler Barter, a principal and architect at Oak Point Associates, told the council.

A new antenna also will be added to the Cross Building for improved police communications. Package screening will be moved to a postal facility outside the complex that will be outfitted with new equipment.

At the State House, the west side security entrance would be reconfigured using the former café space to ensure that anyone entering the Capitol building clears security before they can access the tunnel to the Cross Building.

BID AWARD EXPECTED THIS FALL

Barter said his firm is close to wrapping up construction documents for the Cross side of the project and is working on design of the State House portion.

The goal is to have a bid on the project awarded for construction in late October or November, Barter said, and for construction to be completed by late 2025. He said any work on the State House side of the project would likely be scheduled in June or later in the year in order to avoid the busiest legislative time.

Barter said Capitol Police worked closely with the architects on developing the plans.

“Chief (Matthew) Clancy has been fantastic throughout the process in both evaluating the space they are requiring when we relocate them and in the evaluation of the two sets of security screening equipment,” Barter said.

The upgrades follow recent security threats, including a January incident in which the Maine State House was one of two dozen state capitols across the country to receive a bomb threat. About 300 people were evacuated to the Cross Building on the first day of the legislative session while police worked to determine the incident was a hoax.

In March, the State House was again evacuated after a bomb threat was emailed to officials there and to two Democratic lawmakers and the Maine Democratic Party. The motive wasn’t clear, but the threats targeted leaders of a committee that had heard a contentious bill that would shield Maine health care providers who treat patients from states that ban or limit abortions or gender-affirming care.

The same week, lawmakers decided to hold a public hearing on a mental health bill in the State House, rather than the committee’s regular meeting location in the Cross Building, so that people coming to the hearing would have to pass through security.

While legislative leaders at last week’s meeting voted unanimously in support of using the additional space at the State House for security, some also expressed concerns with the plans.

STAFFING ALSO AN ISSUE

“Myself, personally, I would feel much safer with the money being put into law enforcement salaries and paying for additional law enforcement around here,” said House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor. “That would make me feel a lot safer than this stuff, which I think is just kind of burdensome and gives a false sense of security.”

Clark, from the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, said the Maine Department of Public Safety has been consulted on the plans and is “all in on it.” She said Capitol Police have also received funding in the state budget to add staff in addition to the infrastructure improvements.

“The Cross Building is the only state employee-occupied and legislatively occupied building in the whole portfolio that has zero control over access by anyone,” Clark said. “It’s not a good situation.”

Assistant House Minority Leader Rep. Amy Arata, R-New Gloucester, questioned the $7 million cost of the project but said she would support it after recalling one of the bomb threats that prompted an evacuation.

“We were all told to go from this secure building to the Cross Building, which has no screening,” she said. “So a less secure building, that’s where we were told to wait to get the ‘all clear.’ It was completely absurd. So I agree we need to do something. We need to have better security and screening than we do now.”