Leak discovered in roof of courthouse addition

There has been virtually no activity at the Greene County Courthouse construction site for at least three week.

The project's general contractor, Weddle Construction Company, based in Bloomington walked off the job Jan. 29 in what the firm claims to be a dispute over non-payment of claims.

The county contends the claims in question are part of the pending litigation which the Building Corporation and the county commissioners have filed against members of the original design team along with Weddle Construction.

While the lawyers for both sides are attempting to figure out a way to get the general contractor back to work, there is no construction going on -- a delay that county officials do not endorse, according to the Greene County Building Corporation's project manager Jim Corey.

Corey updated members of the Building Corporation Wednesday afternoon on a very quiet three weeks at the job site other than repairs made on a leaky roof at the new courthouse addition.

"They (Weddle) have not been on the job since they walked off. There has been no activity. The only activity that we've had in the last three weeks is they (Weddle) came this morning and took a piece of equipment out that they had sitting here," Corey said. "They took it out and that's all I've seen of them. I have not seen hide nor hair of them."

Corey reported that there was a leak problem with the roof of the new courthouse building and Weddle did send someone to the site to fix the leak which was above the Circuit Courtroom on the third floor.

There are also on-going heating concerns in the new building that is producing temperatures that has made the ground floor of the facility extremely warm.

"I've sent an e-mail to Weddle this morning telling them to get in here and fix it or if they are not going too, I can get people in here to fix it," Corey told the Building Corporation members. "It's some kind of adjustment problem. If Weddle doesn't respond today (Wednesday) to that e-mail, I will get with (courthouse maintenance supervisor) Gene Spinks and we're going to get a subcontractor out here on our own to get that problem fixed. We can't have people working in 80 degree temperatures."

He continued, "I'm not saying Weddle won't come over to fix it. They just haven't yet."

Building security supervisor William "Butch" Brown reported that the biggest problem area is in the probation department offices.

"They were running fans in the probation department yesterday (Tuesday). It was that warm," Brown said.

In other action, the Building Corporation approved two separate invoices to Toltest, Inc. for asbestos abatement work and contract modifications. A Jan. 11 invoice, amounting to $29,650 and a Feb. 2 invoice of $4,530 were approved for payment.

Project manager Jim Corey said these payments finish up the invoices related to the asbestos removal on the second and third floors of the old courthouse structure as part of the remodel work. Toltest was previously paid $105,415.

Corey pointed out that additional asbestos work will be done on the first and ground floors of the old courthouse building, but it can not be done until the second and third floors of the remodel are completed so there is sufficient space to temporarily move current offices while the abatement work is completed.

Other monthly claims approved were: $5,357.31 to project manager Corey for salary and $1,683.35 for expenses; and $27 to attorney Robert L. Ralston for payroll preparation.

Corey acknowledged that Weddle did not submit a monthly claim after walking off the job site Jan. 29.

The Building Corporation's next meeting will be at 8:30 a.m. on March 21.