Jenny and I did out secret task again Saturday and Sunday night. I noticed when I got dressed early that there was a several empty packs of Captains wafers crackers on the night stand on Jenny’s side of the bed.

Mark, Robert Bradberry and I flew out of the airport at 8 AM on Tuesday to Salem Regional airport. We had a 10 AM meeting with Mr. Tawes to design and give them a bid on a security system. After our meeting with Tri County we were flying to FSU to approve the temporary offices and check out the equipment installation.

I had a laptop with a camera so we could have a video conference with Marcy, Sandy and Cindy. Tri County was also one of the airports that had a MAAR site.

I had a folder full of color photographs from Google earth that Cindy had numbered so I could put them out in order to make a complete picture of the campus. The pilots had changed King Air seating into business seating. There was a small table between the facing seats.

Robert and I put the pictures out on the table in groups. We made designs and notations where we thought camera locations should be on the college property. One new piece of equipment Robert and I had discussed was adding a vehicle tag scanner. It would give us instant electronic record of every vehicle that came on campus and would alert us instantly of problem people going on campus. The data could be continuously cross referenced with sex offenders list, wanted criminals list and others.

One plus to having a contract with the scanner company was that we could add as many as we wanted for the security division at other locations.

Johnson Tri County was another one of those colleges that shared too much information on the net. We used that information to come up with the necessary layout for the camera system in the dorms and college buildings. According to their website all of their dorms had been refurbished over the last two years. My thought was that most likely they had electronic card locks.

By the time we were ready to land we had a pretty good package put together. All that remained were the finer points on the equipment.

Marcy and Sandy and Cindy were working up the cost for the office end of the bid. Robert had given them a list of servers that were compatible with the camera system. Marcy of course was doing her thing; price shopping for the servers and monitors and other office equipment.

Tri County had 400 more students in dorms than FSU and 300 more commuting. Because of that I added 4 more full time employees to the equations than at FSU. One more person on each shift should be enough along with the part-time people.

I taped the sheets together and folded the map when we were finished with it. A few minutes later we were standing at the MAAR counter to pickup our car. There were a couple customers ahead of me so I waited my turn.

The car was reserved by my Fast Tracks Card. I handed the counter person my card as I introduced myself. “B. J. Jones, Jones Business Groups,” I said.

It was interesting to watch the expression on her face change as she looked at the card and then back to me. The rumors that the bosses arrived without announcement were proven as fact once again. My card had my title under my name.

The manager finished up with his customer and practically jumped over a chair to introduce him self to us. After a few minutes of general talk I said, “Give us one of the older cars. Rent the newer ones to paying customers. We have to get on the road to a meeting.” Even though I knew the directions, I asked for them.

We arrived in plenty of time to take a ride around the campus. The Google maps Cindy had printed out were right on the money for accuracy. Mark drove while Robert and I made notations in the print and I made notes on a pad.

The campus was a nice large campus. They spent a lot of money on maintenance and expansion. The sports fields were top of the line with a set of huge bleachers on the football and soccer field. The baseball field was triple A class, the pool was Olympic class or better. The dorm rooms already had card locks of a popular brand. According to Robert they were easy to update with the computer system.

I was surprised that so much of the campus was wide open. The few cameras we saw were obviously in operative and there was no security on the grounds that I saw. There were plenty of people wandering around, contractors and grounds people.

At the administration building where we were to meet we were still a few minutes early. Robert, Mark and I set up shop in the meeting room putting the information in a useable form to give a decent presentation.

After the introductions I presented my complete security plan. I suggested twenty full time people and 10 regular part timers as part of the routine work force. Another 10 to 25 as needed for sporting events to be billed on an as used basis.

I detailed the hiring process that we used and the interview process plus the mental evaluation. I explained the height and weight ratio requirement and safety and handgun training. I passed around JBG employee handbook, code of ethics manual and a general overview of the benefits for full time employees.

Robert explained the camera systems and placement of 250 units. We planned on a security camera in ever dorm hallway, dorm entrance, entrance to all buildings, class room hallways and multiple cameras on the college grounds.

I explained about the ID cards and demonstrated their use by accessing the KCC security system. I would have used the JBG system but I did not want Mark to know what our personal system was capable of.

Marcy sent the numbers in an e-mail and joined us by web conference meeting. She did her number thing breaking down the cost. Robert had been e-mailing the final equipment and installation numbers to her while I was doing my part.

The contract included: updating all door locks to data collection units, new programmable student and faculty ID cards, 250 cameras, 20 full time and 10 part time regular employees, and ten 1000 terabyte servers for security data storage as well as ten security cars and tag scanners at the two entrances. Part time employees above the 10 would be billed separately as needed.

Marcy explained that the equipment cost would be financed by JBG’s Bank and the cost split over the term of the contract so there would be no up-front load cost and a level monthly payment. The college was to supply office space.

Two hours later at 4, after a thorough discussion of expectations and delivery promises, we were in the King Air flying to FSU with a signed proposal in my brief case that was only waiting for a legal review to be final. We were going to check out the progress on the security system installation and the temporary office trailers and to pick up Sly and Becky. Our day still had a lot of hours to go.

I spent the entire flight to FSU on video conference with Marcy, Jason and Cindy to get the ball rolling. There were job postings, background checks and a North Carolina business license, just to get started.

Edit by Alfmeister