The Kansas Senate chamber is awe-inspiring with its ornate ceiling, romanesque columns, large chandeliers, and antique desks.

Forty senators make laws there, but behind the scenes there is one person in charge of that room. He has the key to unlock in the morning and lock it up at day’s end.

Jody Kirkwood, Meriden, is the Sergeant at Arms of the senate and it is his job to stand guard over that room, to keep it in its pristine condition, to see that the senators are well served.

The Sergeant at Arms is appointed each legislative term by the President of the Senate. Kirkwood was first appointed in 2000 after serving a couple of sessions as a doorkeeper. He has held the job ever since.

He hires his own staff of nine people, which consists of two assistants and seven doorkeepers. He is also provided with a retired Highway Patrolman.

The day for Kirkwood starts early.

“I get here at 6:30,” he said. “I open the offices and get the lights on. Secretaries don’t like coming into a dark room.”

But he never knows when he will turn the key to lock up and go home.

“There’s been a few times when I get home just long enough to change clothes and come back,” he said.

This particular day was “turn around” day when the Senate bills have to be processed and sent to the House and the House has to send its bills to the Senate.

The senate gavel was pounded at 10 a.m. on this day instead of 2 p.m. and Kirkwood expected the session to stretch well into the night. As the senators strolled in for roll call, Kirkwood could sit a spell. He’d been doing the preparation work for 3 1/2 hours.

On each senator’s desk were the necessary staff papers concerning the legislative matters for the day. Nothing is placed on a senator’s desk by anyone except Kirkwood or one of his assistants.

And once the gavel is brought down, Kirkwood’s staff tightly controlls access to the chamber. There is a VIP section for special guests, a press section for reporters, and a balcony where a few members of the public can sit and watch the debates.

Also given access are the pages for the day — junior high and high school students who are there to run errands for the senators while getting a closeup look at how government works.

There are normally 10 to 20 youths who have reported early, been introduced to the capitol and had their picture taken with the governor before reporting to the Sergeant at Arms. They will be gone by 3:45 p.m.

Around the Senate chamber the doorkeepers control the atmosphere so that nothing interferes with the legislative process. Audience members must remain seated in the balconies, flash cameras are not allowed, and no one is permitted to approach a senator except their own secretaries.

The Sergeant at Arms can’t recall any major problems keeping order except maybe a couple of times someone got too loud or outspoken.

“We are not police officers so we don’t lay a hand on anyone,” he said. “That’s for the highway patrolman. I do have a panic button and we can have this place swarming with capital police in seconds.”

Fortunately it’s never been needed since Kirkwood has been on duty.

Kirkwood and his assistants have a desk in one corner of the chamber where he can check his email messages.

While busy with routine matters, Kirkwood keeps an ear tuned to the business on the floor. He’s read the calendar for the day and he knows what’s ahead.

It’s getting close to noon and the senators are still finishing yesterday’s business. He knows adjournment will come late, at which time it will take him another hour to put things back in order and make sure the chamber is whistle clean and ready for the next day.

There won’t be any cookie crumbs because no food is allowed in the chamber, although senators can bring water or something to drink to their desks.

“We are very protective of this room,” he said. “Those desks are nearly 150 years old . . . they are the original desks.”

When the Legislature is not in session, the chamber can and has been used by the public for numerous purposes. Youth groups have held mock legislative sessions and he knows of one wedding that was held there.

There were no flowers and no popping champagne corks. “It was a small, quick affair,” he said.

Kirkwood’s staff has remained about the same for the past five or six years, all retired people.

“We get asked why there aren’t any young people,” Kirkwood said. “We have to explain that its a part-time job and the young people need full-time employment.”

On his doorkeeper staff are two Meriden residents, Harlan Hunt and Merril Lovendahl.

Kirkwood has the advantage of being able to see family from time to time. His wife, Carol, is the calendar clerk for the Senate and one daugther, Jamie, is secretary to the President of the Senate.

Jody, 68, moved to the Bloomfield community with his family from Topeka the year of the flood, 1951. He still lives within a half mile of where he grew up, three miles west of Rock Creek. He and Carol, nee Smythe, both attended Meriden High School and have been married 49 years.

He spent 37 years with the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. The couple share crop their land and run a small herd of cows on pasture.

“I don’t see much of them (the cows) until the weekend,” he said. “They are pretty much on their own when this is going on.”

The couple has three children and three grandchildren.