Costs to mend courthouse cause concern

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Sunday, January 14, 2007

Costs to mend courthouse cause concern

Chattanooga Times Free Press Sat, 13 Jan 2007 10:10 PM PST

Money spent on new air conditioning, work to rid mold questioned

By Ian Berry Staff Writer

With at least $6.2 million spent on renovations to the Hamilton

County Courthouse since 2001, the county continues to fight mold

infiltrating the historic building.

The renovations, records show, have included more than $500,000 to

waterproof a leaky foundation thought to be the cause of the

building's continuing mold problems. Despite that foundation work,

moisture and mold persist on the first floor, where offices,

hallways and the entrance onto Walnut Street have been inspected and

cleaned of mold in recent weeks.

" Throwing good money after bad " is how some Hamilton County

officials recently have described expenses for some of the county's

older buildings, including the courthouse.

One of those officials, County Commissioner Fred Skillern, said he

supported the latest courthouse work, but may have felt

differently " if I knew then what I knew now. " The courthouse

renovations are " almost a nightmare, " Commission Chairman Larry

Henry said.

NO TURNING BACK Built in 1912, the courthouse is in the midst

of " Phase V " renovations intended in part to address mold problems

in several locations, including offices for the county clerk,

register of deeds and clerk and master.

In addition to the $6.2 million approved since 2001, the county

included $3 million for further renovations in the $125 million bond

issue approved last year.

There also have been continuing mold problems on the third floor,

where Clerk and Master Lee Akers, the only official to complain

publicly about the mold, has set up portable air purifiers. Mr.

Akers said he wonders if mold is to blame for his chronic

obstructive pulmonary disease, or his employees' frequent bouts of

pneumonia.

While acknowledging the problems, commissioners also say that at

this point there's no turning back.

" From a cost-effectiveness standpoint, you really should tear it

down and start over, " Commissioner Casavant said. " (But)

we've put a lot of money into the courthouse during the past 10

years. "

County Mayor Claude Ramsey said a new courthouse would cost " many

times what we've spent on this beautiful facility, which is a great

asset to the community. "

The city is in the midst of a $12 million renovation to its City

Hall. FROM THE GROUND UP Mr. Ramsey said the first phase of the

renovations to address the courthouse foundation was intended to

stop moisture. The plan all along, he said, was to bring the

building up to standard and then address the areas of mold.

" It certainly helped a great deal, " he said of the foundation work.

The health and well-being of county employees is his top concern,

Mr. Ramsey said. He noted his office has had virtually no

renovations since he took office in 1994. " I work here every day, "

Mr. Ramsey said.

Even if the county had been inclined to build a new facility,

finding a location would have been a problem.

Curtis said if the county could have looked into " a crystal

ball " 10 years ago, it would have looked at building a new joint

city-county facility, similar to what exists in Knoxville. A

potential location could have been where the new County Election

Commission Building opened on Amnicola Highway.

" It's too late for that, " Mr. said.

BEYOND THE COURTHOUSE Both Dr. Casavant and Mr. Skillern said the

county should think about a building program to replace some of the

other old county facilities.

Earlier this month, Dr. Casavant asked county officials to conduct

an audit of all the county's facilities. He said he was taken aback

to learn that an entire floor of the Hamilton County-Chattanooga

Courts Building was being used for parking, and he said the cost of

a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system at the Newell

Tower on East Seventh Street, which houses other county offices,

also raised questions.

That building's HVAC system will cost more than $700,000. The county

received only one bid on the project, after three attempts to

solicit bids.

Dr. Casavant pointed out that, unlike the courthouse, Newell Tower

is not historic.

" At what point do you decide it would be better to issue some bonds

and build a new building and have it pay off? " he said.

County Finance Director Louis acknowledged the concern but

said all of the offices in Newell Tower, for instance, need to be

downtown.

" We frankly right now don't have another location to put a building

such as this, " Mr. said. " We've proven that new buildings are

most cost-efficient than older buildings, but quite frankly that's

how we've acquired additional space in the downtown campus, by

purchasing old buildings. "

Mr. Ramsey has in response to Dr. Casavant's request appointed a

three-person committee to take an inventory of all county buildings

including the county's maintenance director, engineer and real

property manager.

He said taking inventory of the buildings will be helpful, although

any new county buildings would be far in the future.

" We're building schools right now, " Mr. Ramsey said. " Somewhere

there ought to be a longrange plan. But as of now, we continue to

concentrate on the school building program under way. "

E-mail Ian Berry at iberry@... RENOVATION OUTLAYS The

Hamilton County Commission has approved the following expenditures

to renovate these buildings since 2000: Hamilton County Courthouse —

$6.2 million Heating/ventilation/ air conditioning repairs — $1.53

million Hamilton County Justice Building (includes jail) — $1.5

million Newell Towers — $903,984 MLK Building — 209,000 Mayfield

Annex — 193,872 Hamilton County-Chattanooga Courts Building:

$159,884 Source: Hamilton County documents