Work begins on security fence for Kentucky Governor’s Mansion after threats
As threats against public officials pop up across the nation, work has begun to install a security fence at the Executive Mansion in Frankfort for Gov. Andy Beshear and his family.
Jill Midkiff, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet, said installation of the fence at the residence near the Capitol began last week.
Kentucky State Police, which provides security for the first family, called for the fence after the hanging of Beshear in effigy in a tree on the Capitol grounds in May after a Second Amendment rights rally. Several armed protesters also gathered on the front porch of the mansion and yelled for Beshear to come outside. He and his family were not home at the time.
Recently, a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer focused more attention on the security of governors and other public officials.
The Kentucky project’s timeline, Midkiff said, is dependent upon favorable fall weather and the absence of other unanticipated obstacles, such as the discovery of rock below ground that must be excavated.
The fence work is being done by Stewart Iron Works of Erlanger.
The Finance Cabinet solicited bids for the project and received and opened four in July. Stewart bid $87,461 for the project’s first phase to put a security fence in front and partially down one side of the mansion.
It also bid $111,740 for an option to fence the rest of the property. The state is still considering it.
The black fencing is 4 to 5 feet high and is designed to maintain the dignity of the mansion built in 1906.
The installation of the fence is being paid for with private funds provided by the Kentucky Executive Mansion Foundation, Inc., a non-profit based in Lexington.
It has not made public its donations since it was set up in 2002 but Lindy Karns, its secretary and treasurer, said it will for the fence.
The Beshears now are in self-imposed quarantine in the mansion after a security driver last weekend tested positive for COVID-19. None of the members of the first family has tested positive.
The Kentucky mansion is one of the last executive mansions in the U.S. without security fencing, said the National Governors Association.
This story was originally published October 16, 2020 at 4:10 PM.
