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He is insane, of course. |
Twigs and Branches
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Courthouse Renovation & Addition 2004The Saga Continues..... 22 Jan. 2004 (Thurs.) - -Board Conducts long-distance meeting - -The Greene County Building Corporation conducted a long-distance re-organizational meeting Wednesday morning linking the three member board in conference call between a trio of different states hundreds of miles apart. - - ...Amos Musselman of Newberry and Plato Spencer of rural Worthington are "wintering" in Texas and Florida respectively... - - First order of business, the board re-elected the officers with no changes for another year - Musselman as president, West as vice president and Spencer as secretary. - - The board also agreed to continue meeting, each month on the third Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. - a change from the previous 8 a.m. meeting time. The board's regular meeting location is in the commissioners room... - - The board is charged with overseeing the financing of $10.5 million courthouse renovation/building project, approved the payment of:
- - The board also approved four change orders presented by project general contractor Weddle Brothers Construction Co. . . . . . .Weddle Brothers have done little work since March 9, 2003. Materials have been ordered and stored and there has been work done to address the shoring up of the building... 25 Feb 2004 (Wednesday)- THE COURTHOUSE DILEMMA - - ...A local contractor is fed up...thinks perhaps it's time to call this project off and build in another location. - - Larry Poe, owner of Poe Electric in Linton and one of the subcontractors for the project, wants out... - - Work stopped on the building as year ago - shortly after it began - after the south foundation wall shifted, causing cracks in several areas of the three-story brick building, including the south stairwell.- - The structure was built in 1885, on sandy soil. - - Poe... "I say as far as I know absolutely nothing. Every time I call the general contractor's office, they say nothing has changed. I guess all those involved in making the decisions are doing is standing around, pointing fingers at each other. Apparently no one is willing to accept responsibility and no lawsuits have been filed."... - - "if I had been (county) commissioner discussing the pros and cons for building an addition to the existing courthouse one of the first things I would have considered was the parking problem.".... - - "The when it was discovered that the old building was built on a pile of sand, there would have been a lot more questions asked...." - - Now that the project is started and then shut down "because the south stairwell started cracking, there is much more to think about."... "Compaction grouting has been installed under the footer on the south end of the building, to keep it from sinking further. The building was originally 'floating' on a pile of sand, so that the whole thing moved with any earth movement. Now the south end is stabilized, but nothing has been done on the other three sides. What happens if we get substantial earth movement in the future, such as an earthquake? I believe serious problems will take place and eventually this old building will have to be torn down anyway. So why take the chance?"... - - "There are other problems that are not being addressed, including lead abatements, or other hazardous materials, which is not in the contract at this time."... "there have already been 140 RFI's, these are requests for information on subjects and worked changes that have not been properly addressed in the project specifications and blueprints... - - ..."that we should consider what has happened and what has not happened to be a warning not to proceed with the project as is, and to change our direction before it is too late... ...we should repair the south end of the courthouse, put the dirt back in the south yard, build new steps, and move off the site to build in another location. Maybe the old building could be turned over to the historical society, or make a city park with parking areas for the uptown businesses." - - -Poe believes "that building a new courthouse on another location would not cost as much as the $10 million now estimated for the addition and remodeling. . . A new, modern and efficient one - or two-story building, with room to expand in the future and a sizable parking area, should cost in the neighborhood of $7,500,000, plus the cost of the land." - - "due to the time delays in construction, the estimated cost for labor and materials increases will be approximately $1,500,000. - - "I've also been informed that the county's attorneys have told the county commissioners not to comment about this project"... - - He added that legal fees are "another expense..." - - ..."are also paying $1,000 per month for the courthouse employees to park in one of the bank's parking lots." - - ..."as of Feb 23, 2004., it has come to my attention that the county's attorney's are going to file a lawsuit or lawsuits against the parties that they fell are responsible." - - As the electrical contractor on the project, he noted. "I wish to terminate my contract, which expired Feb. 15, 2004, if legally possible." 3 Mar 2004 (Tuesday)- ... One Greene County man spoke out against continuing the stalled courthouse renovation project at the commissioners meeting Tuesday - .... - - Richard Steele . . ."would hate to see you guys waste a bunch of money on this (building) when we could build a nice courthouse on the outside here some place. This is an old building. In don't see how you're going to get it fixed up without spending more money than we've really got -.... - - "I'm fed up with it", said commissioner Bart Beard... Yes we're probably going to incur some cost at the beginning because we're going to have to try to recoup some of this money." - - ..."it's time we got something either started or we look at different avenues we can take." - - Work stopped on the building a year ago - shortly after it began - after the south foundation wall shifted,... - - ... Engineers continue to monitor the cracks but nothing else has been done. - - The three-story brick structure was built in 1885, on sandy soil, and stood solid until the renovation/addition project began. - - ...."hasn't talked to one person that wants this (courthouse project to continue as-is)...everybody I've talked to want a building outside of town where they can go in there and park, and not have to worry another finding a place to park. And what are you going to have when you get done here? You've still got an old building." - - Britton responded, "You can't (build a courthouse) out of town. By Statute you have to put a courthouse inside an incorporated town." - - Steele then advocating moving the courthouse out by the jail..." - - Unless an agreement can be reached between the county and the project engineers and architects on the financial liability and the extra costs incurred due to the delays, the situation may have to be resolved in court. 17 Mar. 2004 (Wednesday) -gives explanations on courthouse - - A discussion on the stalled Greene County Courthouse renovation/addition project at Tuesday's meeting began with commissioner Bart Beard asking what the county's options are on the project - "and where do we stand?" - - Commissioners attorney Marilyn Hartman answered, "There are some things that of course the commissioners can't discuss, those issued largely defined by (the fact) we have attorneys representing us in matters concerning damages to the courthouse, to the extent there would be questions raised about who is at fault for something or what it is,...." - -Hartman said the county "is not in a position " financially to start a new project, since the bonds are to be used for that specific project....When we got into this project we have contractual obligations with our general contractor (Weddle Brothers Construction), we have contractual obligations with the design team we have. Unless there is a determination that they're going to breach the contract, we're obligated." - -Hartman said, "we can't really talk about who we think is responsible for what at this point, but we can say is that unless the determination (is made) that somebody breached the contract, we can't just not pay on our contractual obligation." - - ... - - "These are really difficult issues," she said. "we don't know who ultimately is going to be found responsible. We've hired a firm that specializes in dealing with damages so we will be seeking recovery, and those funds, hopefully, will offset costs that are being incurred, and you're moving as fast as you can." - - ... - -Britton said figures quoted by Linton contractor, Larry Poe, owner of Poe Electric and electrical subcontractor on the courthouse project, concerning the costs of the projects delays, weren't accurate.... - -"Our obligation is, we want to get that project done and done right, we want something we can be proud of. We are committed to making sure the taxpayers don't pay any more money on it - they're not responsible and neither are we responsible for some of the things that happened.".... - - Beard joked, "I'm about to the point where I wish I was in this building if it fell down, by myself." - - Britton, noting someone had told him if an earthquake would occur and the courthouse fall, "It would solve our problems. But you know what, if an earthquake would come through this would be the only thing left standing." - - Bartlett said the sandy soil under the courthouse - which has been blamed by some as the reason the south foundation shifted - "is a blessing in disguise. It will not carry (tremors or movement) up into the foundation. That's why it's stood all these years." ......... Officials offer 'factual' info about project - - Greene County Commissioners Tom Britton, Bart Beard and Warren Bartlett, wanting to provide " factual information" to the public on the courthouse project,.... - - The summary starts 1996 through 1998 with "ongoing discussions, studies, investigations regarding the courthouse renovation project, including several public meetings in which the following options were considered:
- - In 1998 "the pros and cons of each option were thoroughly considered in a public meeting at the Greene County Fairgrounds. The general public favored the option to build onto the existing courthouse."..... - - She noted that up to 1989, the commissioners were Bill Sipes, Bob Crowe, and Dr. Tom Bailey. Britton was elected in 1998. - - "The major difficulty in considering that as an option was the issue of historic preservation." she said. "Whenever you try to tear down any old building, there would have been obstacles. We probably would have been looking at a lawsuit, an injunction filed by the Historic Preservation people to prevent us from tearing it down." - - ....... Then, in 1999-2000, "the Board of Commissioner proceed with space needs study, cost estimates, selection of A&E (architects and engineers) firm, development of design." - - Next, the summary continues, in 2000-01. "Project design was finalized, which includes soils testing, and bids let. Total project costs $11.6 million. The County Council fixes maximum bond issue at $10.5 million. - - "Final, recommendation design specifically utilized construction technique for building in sandy soil," cording to the report. - - "commissioners accept actual construction bid of $8,087,300." - - The bond proceeds included the following non-construction expenditures:
- - In January 2003, the "general contractor pulled off the site due to safety concerns.... - - In March 2003: "Contractor pulls off job site a second time as result of major structural damage.... - - Since June 2003, "the board of commissioners has engaged in ongoing negotiations to resolve conflicts between contractor and design team which have arisen out of concerns by both parties over liability for structural damage.... - - In 2004, "the redesign/negotiation process has been painfully slow. All parties - the general contractor, sub-contractors, the soils engineer, the structural engineer, the architect, have moved all carefully, deliberately, to avoid taking on any responsibility or liability for the repairs that the parties are not contractually obligated to assume." - -....The shifting of the foundation under the south stairwell of the courthouse occurred, she said, "but we don't know why it happened. That's the whole issue.... - -...."most issues have finally been resolved," she said." The board hopes that construction will resume in April 2004." 23 March 2004 (Tuesday) - -Commissioners respond to project concerns- - Greene County Commissioners' president Tom Britton has issued a press release stating that board's stance on the stalled - and controversial - courthouse renovation project..... - - "In March, 2003, work on the Greene County Courthouse renovation project came to a halt when structural damage was observed in the south stairwell of the building," Britton stated in the press release. "Since that time, the Board of Commissioners has been committed to three goals:
..... - - Recently articles appearing in the local press have raised questions about the ongoing delay in this project, what appears to be inaction on the part of the board, and the wisdom of continuing with the project. Because the county is actively pursuing he recovery of monetary damages from those responsible, the Board of Commissioners is not free to discuss all of the factors that have contributed to the project delay, not discuss any of the behind-the-scenes work that has been pursued in connection with the project. ...... - - "In the last month in particular, a great deal of misinformation has appeared in the local media about the costs being expended or incurred on project. That in turn has fueled suggestions that the Board of Commissioners should cancel the project and pursue other options. The following identifies the true versus the erroneous 'factual' information that was reported.
24 March 2004 (Wednesday) - - County has to pay for construction work - - This is the second and last part of a recent press release issued by Greene County Commissioners, signed by commissioners' president Tom Britton. ......
This courthouse addition is a 'custom' design. All of the major items, i.e. the structural steel, curtain walls, boilers, chillers, air handling units and windows, which total $627,545, were made in the specific lengths, shapes, sizes, BTU requirements for this project. Only $76,210 of the stored materials can be reused with certainty. The county would be lucky if 20 percent of the remaining materials could be recycled into a new building." - -The statement also addressed questions raised by the general public. ...... "Question: Can Greene County simply 'scrap the current project and start over'? Answer: No ... there are many factors, but simply put there are three major reasons.
"Question: 'Still, if some way could be found to do so, what would it cost to scrap the project and start over?' Answer: The county would lose :
Using an industry standard of 10 percent, the county would also be liable to the general contractor for:
Then, the county would incur at least $500,000 in redesign fees. These costs total $4,205,031.77. Redesigning the courthouse would likely take a year and then the project would have to be bid again. .........
After March, 2003, the board again revisited all of these options. "As noted above, the county's bond and contract obligations greatly limit what the county can do. .... - - "The county s facing a very difficult problem for which there is no simple, easy or quick solution," ..... 21 April 2004, Thursday - Project may get under way soon - There may soon be some construction activity on the Greene County courthouse renovation/addition project. The was the feeling of project manager Jim Corey... ...he "felt like" he could request Weddle Brothers back on the job within 30 days after the shoring-up work is completed on the south end of the building. ...he has been working with Safeway Cooperation, based in Wisconsin, in trying to come up with a "fix" for the foundation stabilization problem... ..approval of the plans is still needed from state building officials who must ok the repair design plans before work can begin. "It looks like now that those drawings should be in the public engineer's hand and in the company's hands by the end of the week and they're going to start loading materials and getting trucks down her... ...the subcontractor has assured him that it will take less than two weeks to get the stabilization work done.... ..."Whenever you deal with these engineering firms, these engineers usually take six months to design these things and they done it in four weeks... ...the commissioners recommended to the Courthouse Building Corporation that payment be made to United Consulting Engineers in the amount of $56, 964.77 for work completed during the period of June 2002 until April 2003. The commissioners refused to pay for approximately $45, 000 in charges which they contend are related to the repair for the building project... ...the county had requested more than a year ago that the engineers break the cost in two different areas - the cost related directly to the ground settlement and the cost directly to the base contract. "For whatever reason, the engineer had not given that to us for over a year. And we will not pay it..."They have done that and we've gotten a bill." The Building Corporation was slated to meet this morning to consider payment of the claim for the base contract work done by the engineer. 6 May 2004, Thursday - Some Courthouse work has started - Some work had resumed on the log-delayed Greene County Courthouse renovation/addition project. Wednesday morning, the county commissioners learned that scaffolding materials had been delivered and some work started earlier in the week. ... workers from Safeway Corporation were on site starting Monday morning to begin building the scaffolding required to "shore-up" the south end of the building... "They (the work crew) are in the basement right now and will be working their way up shoring up the three floors as we had planned,"... ...Weddle Brothers could be back on the job in about two weeks. The project is running more than a year behind schedule because of the foundation stabilization concerns. Mon., 17 May 2004 - Courthouse work raises concern - - A representative from the Indiana Department of Enviormental Management arried at the Greene County Courthouse late Friday afternoon after being calle conserning dome work being done by LEPI Enterprises of Bloomington. . ."When they brought out the sign that said 'posion lead' and were wearing masks and ti was not an air-tight works area..I became concerened for the safetey of the children with their parentd visiting the courthouse...LEPI Enterprises were hired by Jim Corey, project manager of the renovation porject at the courthouse, to take plaster down on the west staircase of the courthouse. . . they have put plastic up. They wash it down and bag it. It is not unsafe. . . there was no asbestos but wanted to make sure lead paint was not an issue. . .Some offices opted to close for the afternnon. . .Greene County Prosecutor David Powell requested a letter from Corey which stated the work being done was safe for employees to be there. Corey obliged. . . After shoreing up trhe south west staircase they would then move to the southeast staircase. . . . Friday, 18 June 2004 - Courthouse Work - An employee with Safeway Corporation,...,was busy this week working on the southside of the Greene County Courthouse project... The stabilization work is expected to be done very soon,... Friday, 7 July 2004 -Courthouse work may Start Friday - "I have notified Weddle Brothers that is my goal to give them back the job by the end of the week." Jim Corey, project manager...announced... A soil pressure test conducted at the courthouse revealed that more concrete needed to be poured under the courthouse. "The goal is to have all of that done by Friday,"...The next step is to remove the exterior wythe of brick on the east and west stairwells. "That is the esterior brick on the building that is strickly for show. Behind that is the structural brick that is about two or three feet thick."...By removing the exterior brixks the cracks in the structural bricks will be exposed. After exposing the cracks they do an epoxy injection grouting in the structural bricks. That makes the bricks a solid mass again. After that is finished we will re-lay the bricks on the outhside...Coery is going to recommend to Weddle Brothers that while they are working on the bricks they also work on putting rods in the north and south stairwells. "The rods will go through to a structural wall. It will further stabilize the building. It is pretty comon practice in older buildings."...Once the work is finished then Weddle Brothers will be back to the orginal contract. Friday, 23 July 2004 - - Two letters Sent to Weddle Brothers - - A look around the south and west sides of the Greene County Courthouse gives a stark view...Inside the more than 100-year-old building, large shoring pipes anchor the building's interior from the floor to the ceciling on all three floors...But it is business as usual inside - with county offices functioning each day. However, construction is non-existent....Weddle Brothers work crew left the site on Jan. 6, 2003 and all field work by the general contractor stopped in March 2003...The project manager said "shoring-up" has been completed by Safeway Services of Indianapolis . Also additional concrete was poured under the courthouse to stabalize the "moving" foundation, according to Corey. Weddle Brothers had requested a drawing stamped by an Indiana professional engineer - that request has also been met, he said. It's safe to resume work,"... The project engineer - United Consulting Engineers and architect DLZ both agree with Corey's assessment. The ball is now in Weddle's court,..."its time to go back to work." Efforts to solicit comment from Weddle about the county's "back to work" request were unsuccessful...project manager Jeff Mattix did not return a telephone message...I hope they get back to work. But who knows? We just have to do what we have to do. We have all our T's crossed and I's dotted and we can go that (court) route if necessary." Britton said... Although the project has been stalled for about 18 months...it's still costing about $15,000 per month... Mattix said his company is billing the Greene County Building Corporation approximately $14,000 a month, the amount it is costing "to maintain a presence" at the job site. In addition to the salaries of two Weddle Brother employees who remain on the site, there is a office trailer, storage trailer, electricity, telephones, dumpsters, and port-a-jons to pay for. In addition, ongoing survey monitoring of cracks... is costing between $1,200 and 1, 500 per month... Monday, 2 Aug. 2004 Project may be headed to court - The Greene County Courthouse project appears headed for a legal standoff between the county and the general contractor. Commissioner's president Tom Britton is hopeful, but not optimistic that Weddle Brothers Construction Company will soon go back to work...there is still a real possibility that the county will take action to revoke Weddle's bond on the project if work is not promptly resumed. The bond equals the value of he total project. "I can't imagine that they (the contractor) would let that happen,"... Officials from Weddle were at the courthouse site on Wednesday and removed exterior brick from the east and west stairwells on the southside of the building to examine the structural brick for cracks. After doing that they had some additional question, Britton said....We are trying to address that right now. When we get that cleared, I assume they are ready to go back to work," ... "It's got down to a point I don't know whether they have got it (the project) bid too cheap and they are worried about all of the little things -- what they are calling safety concerns.".... experts hired by the county content the building is safe for work to resume...We've had every state and federal department that I know of come in and look at it ...the next move needs to be from the contractor. They have been sent two "back to work" letters in the past month.... Tuesday, 17 Aug. 2004 Courthouse Work Still On Hold - - Representatives from both sides of the Greene County Courthouse project delay 8dilema reamin cautiously optimistic that some construction work will resume at the site soon. Exactly when that work will resume remains a mystery... Thursday, 26 Aug. 2004 - - Project coming to a head - - The Greene County Building Coporation on Wednesday raised the ant a couple of chips in its poker game-like standoff with a Bloomington based construction company...The building corporation...passed a resolution which authorizes "whatever means possible" to contractually get the job going and get the contractor back to work. What that means will be a decision for the building corporation's law firm - Drewry, Simmons and Vornehm of Indianapolis - to decide..."we're still kind of in a holding pattern. There's been alot of letters going back and forth...avaiable options for the building corporation will be to coontinue what he called "the letter writing", or they could "jerk the bond" posted by the contractor. "The ultimate thing would be to get a hold of the bonding company and tell them to get a contractor out here that will go to work."..."I've written several letters telling them to go back to work and they haven't done it."... "My hands are kind of tied really. There are a lot of attorneys involved in this thing and I don't know what they are doing"..."If Weddle doesn't go back to work, the worst thing we could do is jerk their bond and get another contractor.," Cory said. "What the attorneys can do before that happens. I don't know." When askes what kind of time frame might pass before the building corporation takes the more drastic approach."...a time frame of weeks and not months. "We've got to have things going here in weeks."...If I can get this thing built to a point before the weather turns, I can work inside, if we can get it under a roof."....about 90 days to erect the steel and get the building shell under the roof - taking the project to about Novemeber... "I hope they can get something resolved quickly. I've done everything I can do out here (on sitte) physically in the field."...I have done everything I can do to secure or try and alleviate Weddle's safety concerns. That's the reason they haven't been back to work yet."...believes Weddles's concerns now center around liability issues. "I don't know if they have saftey concerns now so much as they want reassurances that they are not liable for anything. I can't tell the contractor he's not going to be liabel for anything...Weddle's engineering firm disagrees with the engineering analysis done by the county's engineering company - United Consulting Engineers, which syays the building is structuraly safe to resume construction. They (Weddle) are worried about lateral movement, but they do say that once we put those rods in they are not worried about vertical movement."..."our people says it's safe before we put those rods in." ...I have three engineers that says it is. We've got the top forensic engineering company in the country saying if was safe before we put the shoring up.... "If it goes to court and they start to pull the bond, Weddle, has to go to court because it will break them. How long is that going to tkae? How many attorney dollars are going to burn up doing that ...he firmly believes the building is sound. "It moved an inch about a year and a half ago. That's unfortunate that that happened byt we have corrected it."....The county has spent more tha t $50,000 in shoring-up repairs. The county has reserved its rights to charge the repair work cost back to "whoever" is ultimately determined to be the cause of the foundation shift problems. That could be in the building's design or the contractor...It will be up to the legal people to determine that. When that is determined, that cost will be assumed by whoever the culpable party is. Everything we have done reservastion of rights to able to charge back to whoever."..."They have plenty of money (to be made) in this job. We've already told them we know there will be small increase due to the delay. We've told them they will get additional days due to the delay.", he said. "They have absolutely no exposure on this thing. They can come out here and make money. "That is what boggles my mind, it's totally fustrating? Waht do you do?..." Thursday, 2 Sep 2004 - Work on the Courthouse starts - - Work has resumed in the Greene County Courthouse addition/renovation project for the first time in nearly 20 months. A small crew from Weddle Brothers Construction Company, based in Bloomington, returned to the work site Tuesday and Wednesday in preparation for repair work to further shore up the building and alleviate saftey concerns...The debates also involved lawyers representing the county and its building coporation as well as Weddle Brothers. The county had offically threatened to take legal action against the contractor it its back-to-work requests were not honored. Corey said he expected a large number of Weddle workers to be on site starting today to begin the process of inserting reinforcing rods into the southside wall. After the rods are placed and an epoxy material is injected...After that repair work is finshed, then Weddle will be able to return to a scope of work orginally outlined in the contract, he said. With some cooperation from the weather, Corey is optimistic that the structure can be "under roof" beforecold conditions hit. 17 Sep., 2004, Friday – Looking for a Home Boxes, boxes of old records need a home - - -…Greene County officials are looking for a home for boxes and boxes of local historic records that pre-date the Civil War. … were previously stored in sliding wall closets on the north and south walls of the Greene County Superior Courtroom, located on the third floor of the courthouse. Earlier this week, because of current renovation work being done on the courthouse, the records had to be moved on very short notice. Courthouse maintenance supervisor Gene Spinks and maintenance worker Tim Carpenter were charged with the task of moving the estimated 700 small hinged-top cardboard boxes …The two county workers cleaned out the south wall closet -- that is normally hidden from public view by a sliding door arrangement -- a job that took them from 3 p.m. on Monday until 2 a.m. on Tuesday to make way for Weddle Brothers Construction crews who are boring holes in the south wall and inserting metal rods as part of a stabilization method on the more than century old courthouse structure. It was common knowledge that the old records were stored in the courtroom, but when construction crews requested they be moved so they could do stabilization work, a dilemma was created,... Actually, large volumes of county tax records are currently being stored in an old semi-trailer that is parked on the eastside of the courthouse building. These records were moved from the old coal room in the courthouse basement about two years ago…. 11 Nov. 2004 (Thursday)- Weddle Brothers Construction Company, of Bloomington, and a host of subcontractors have been busy at work on the Greene County Courthouse renovation/addition project. 16 Nov. 2004 (Tuesday) - .....a worker is hoisted high on the southside... stripping brick off the more than 100 year old structure as part of the renovation process. Foundation work is also under way on the project with footers being poured. 22 Dec 2004 (Tuesday) - Courthouse work to get 'loud' - ...Courthouse renovation/addition project representative Jim Corey has notified courthouse workers that Weddle Brothers Construction Company, of Bloomington, will startsaw cuttin concrete on the south subbasement floor in the electrical and furnance room Wedensday. ...The courthouse renovation/addition project, which has seen an increasing amount of construction activity since early Novemebr, is going well in the eyes of the representative... ..."It's slow going, but they are doing a good job. It's going as planned. Things are cnsistent and that's good news."... 22 Dec. 2004 (Wednesday) - County to take major Action - The engineering company and architectural firm that designed the troubled Greene County Courthouse reonvation/addition project are expected to be fired soon. The action is a prelude to upcoming court action to recover lost revenues liked to the delayed reconstruction project. The commissioners on Tuesday morning unanimously adopted a resolution that alleges that the design team of United Consulting Engineers of Indianapolis and DLZ Architects of South Bend have failed to comply with their contractual obligations. ...Final action on the firings rests with the Greene County Building Corporation. ..."the Board of commissioners has determined that it is in the best interst of the citizens of Greene COunty to pursue by litigation to recover damages sustained to the Greene County Courthouse." ...estimated about $2.5 million in "damages" were caused by the more than 18 month delay in the project... ...cited the county's damages as "down time" during the work stoppage, attorney fees required to come up with a solution to the foundation problem and to pursue recovery of damages in court; and the cost of actual repairs theat were made to make make the building safe... ...this is likely the first step in what could prove to be a lengthy legal battle to recover damages... ..."we'll have to find another engineeer and architect that will be willing to take those designs and go ahead with it. We don't want to change the desgin... The firing recommendation apparently caught both United Consulting Engineering and DLZ officials by surprise... 31 Dec. 2004 - - A look back at 2004 - Courthouse project voted No. 1 story - As the year 2004 comes to a close, the Greene County Courthouse project continues. More than 18 months of waiting for some definitive construction acitivty to resume ended in September... The courthouse project was voted The Daily Citizen/Evening World's No. 1 story for 2004... The months of the construction site sitting idle fostered plenty of speculation and talk in the community amoung building experts and ordinary taxpayers.... The level of construction activty picked up the week following the general election.... Pourings have been done and the builders are close to setting some of the steel as the years closes. But legal problems appear imminent... The commissioners unanimously adopted a resolution that alleges that the design team of United Consulting Engineers of Indianapolis and DLZ Architects of South Bend have failed to comply with their contractual obiligations.... ...the resolution was passed in order to make sure "the statute of limitations" doesn't run out on any court action that might be involved in the county's pursuit of damages from the design team. and the Saga Continues another year...... |
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