County Judicial Center Still Has Problems

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http://www.myinky.com/ecp/gleaner_news/article/0,1626,ECP_4476_1689852,00.html Judicial center's A/C case heats up By RON JENKINS, EditorJanuary 22, 2003 Insurance company representatives and assistant County Attorney Ron Woodard are scheduled to confer later this week on the air conditioning problems that surfaced last May in the $10 million County Judicial Center. Woodard met Tuesday in an hour-long closed session with members of Fiscal Court and Tim Skinner and Groves of the local firm of Skinner-Groves, the architect for the facility that opened a year ago. "The purpose of the meeting was to bring the court up to speed on this issue," County Judge-executive Sandy Watkins said. "We've got a path now and Mr. Woodard is pursuing it." Because litigation may be necessary, Watkins and Woodard were careful not to discuss details of Tuesday's session or the exact nature of Woodard's upcoming session with insurance company spokespersons "representing design professionals." Watkins was quick to point out, as he has in the past, that "if we get into litigation, we have to go after the person we had our contract with, and that was Skinner-Groves." However, a subcontractor, TEC Consulting Engineers of ville, was the designer of the air conditioning system and the energy recovery ventilator unit that is believed to be responsible for the buildup of moisture that began occurring inside the building last May. Complaints from judicial center employees about high humidity levels and related problems, including water leaking through ceiling tiles, mushroomed last August when they became concerned enough to seek relief from regulatory agencies. Subsequently, Watkins retained an ville firm, PACE Field Services, to perform tests that showed the building to be safe from serious environmental threat, including toxic mold spores. Last fall the county also contracted with engineer Park Rommel, of A & G Engineering in Owensboro, to make an evaluation of the center's heating, ventilating and air conditioning system. Rommel said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon that his report was turned over last month to Watkins, Woodard and a representative of the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts, which funded the judicial center. "I found several items that need to be seriously looked at and resolved," Rommel said. He would not elaborate, again because of possible litigation, but his findings are expected to be central to the county's position of fixing responsibility. At the very least, the energy recovery unit will need to be replaced with one with at least twice as much capacity, Watkins has said. Even if the issue is resolved soon, another summer may pass before a replacement unit is up and running, officials said. "We can make it through another summer," Watkins said, "but it is a logistical nightmare" to make the adjustments in the system to prevent another moisture buildup. Rommel confirmed that "they can make the system work, but it will be very inefficient" cost-wise. "It's basically a good system and it can be tweaked" to keep employees comfortable until it is fixed, he said. Meanwhile, other matters the court dealt with Tuesday: - 4-Star funds: The court approved a resolution that will draw down $62,500 in coal severance tax funds to be used to build infrastructure, including water and sewer lines, at 4-Star Industrial Park. The 800-acre regional industrial park is a joint project of , Webster, Union and McLean counties. Webster County officials passed a similar resolution last week for the same amount. Watkins said and Webster are pursuing the funding because the park straddles the and Webster county line and any tax income from future industry would accrue to those two counties. - $5,700 for Corydon: The county authorized the city of Corydon to apply for a $5,700 Area Development Assistance grant to help defray costs of a new roof and other improvements planned for the Corydon city building. Historically, the annual grants have been used by the county for recycling programs, Watkins said, but the court agreed unanimously to redirect the money to Corydon at the request of its mayor, Larry Owens, and Magistrate . - Tyson odors: Magistrate Jimmy Hicks told the court that he is "still getting complaints about odors" from the Tyson Foods chicken-processing plant near Robards. He said he relayed the complaints to local Tyson officials. "Maybe you need to talk to Tyson people at company headquarters" in Bentonville, Ark., Watkins suggested.