Council approves short-term fix to put damaged Government Center courtrooms back in play

Columbus Council took the first step this week toward getting the Muscogee County court system back into full operation when it unanimously approved a measure that would fund and repair four courtrooms damaged by flooding.

The action taken by council is a layered approach, Mayor Teresa Tomlinson said.

“I think everyone from the judges to the staff to the citizens engaged on this issue are relieved that council took the decisive action to move forward in getting the courtrooms back up and running, getting basic, life-saving issues addressed for those that must work in the Government Center and starting the planning process for either a completely rebuilt or a wholly new judicial and government building,” she said.

Muscogee County Superior and state courts have been paralyzed since June 18 when four of the seven primary courtrooms in the Government Center were damaged because of flooding from a busted water main to a boiler on the building’s top floor. Five of the county’s top nine judges have been moved out of the Government Center to a nearby office building.

The repair work is expected to begin immediately and be completed sometime in February, City Manager Isaiah Hugley said.

The measure council approved will not only accept the nearly $1.1 million in insurance settlement funds from Travelers to start the repairs on the damaged floors, but it will also allow the city to borrow $7 million in bonds issued by the Columbus Building Authority. The city will use $2.5 million of that to address safety issues in the government center, many of them surrounding fire safety.

The city will use $1 million of the borrowed money toward toward planning, engineering and assessment for the new building to potentially replace the 47-year-old Government Center, which houses city administration, multiple city departments and the courts.

The city will then use $3 million in borrowed money to upgrade the softball complex at South Commons. This will include work to the stadium and surrounding fields. The Columbus Sports Council made the pitch for these improvements in August, while telling council it had a chance to host an international softball tournament that will be televised by ESPN.

Hugley stressed the bond funding would not raise property taxes. The city plans to use money from an existing permanent sales tax to pay the $820,000 annually in debt service, Hugley said. The city will borrow the money for 10 years, but there will be no pre-payment penalty if it’s paid back sooner, Hugley said.

“We are encouraged by the action taken by council and the move in the direction bring things back to normal,” he said.

Chief Superior Court Judge Gil McBride, who has been pushing council to act, said he was pleased with the move.

“The view that the judges have taken, and we have grouped around one position, is that we want to see it patched up as cheaply as possible so that the courtrooms can be reopened,” McBride said.

A number of safety concerns, particularly the lack of a fire suppression device and the lack of pressure control in the stairwells, have been raised as council grappled with with a short-term fix or a long-term solution.

“We want it where it’s no less safe than it was the day before the floods,” McBride said. “When that happens we can get back in there and the city can move forward with long-range plans.”

The city hired Aaron and Clements, a Columbus-based project management firm, to give an independent assessment of the situation after hearing a report from city officials in late August. Aaron and Clements worked on the assessment with two local architectural firms, 2WR and Hecht Burdeshaw Architects.

They reviewed the 2017 Mayor’s Commission Report on the Government Center, met with city staff, public works, engineering, the fire marshal and inspections and code. They also discussed the building’s existing fire and safety issues with contractors WT Miller, Batson-Cook and Brasfield & Gorrie.

Two weeks ago, council was presented with the findings and long-term options by Newt Aaron.

There are two viable options, Aaron told council earlier this month.

The first was to tear down the tower and annex buildings and come back with all new construction, including a new court building on the 10th Street side of the property and a new administration building on the Ninth Street side. A parking structure would need to be built in the city parking lot south of Ninth Street between First and Second avenues.

The other option would be to vacate the tower and demolish the east and west wings. That would allow for a new judicial building to be constructed on the 10th Street side and then the tower could be gutted and renovated, Aaron told the councilors.

The work at the softball complex was an immediate need that was tacked onto the bond issue.

In August, Sports Council Executive Director Merri Sherman presented a plan to Columbus Council during a work session that was aimed at public-private partnership to make $5.6 million in renovations to the eight-field complex that has hosted everything from the top players in the world to local church league teams.

The softball complex was completed for about $3 million in 1994 using revenue from the 1993 1-percent Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. Shortly after the Olympics softball games were played here in July 1996, the $3.5 million stadium was built with a combination of private funds and excess money remaining with Columbus ‘96, the local Olympic organizing committee.

The Sports Council was agency that spun out of Columbus ‘96. Its primary focus for the last two decades as been to recruit and host sporting events in the city. Part of the effort to attract the International Cup is playing off the legacy of the 1996 Olympic softball competition held in Columbus. The softball complex was used to support the games, which were played in Golden Park.

This story was originally published October 25, 2018 at 8:28 AM.