Funds werecut out of two recent budgets for routine building inspections. And despitelawsuits over the construction of the O'Donnell structure, its last “fullassessment” was in 2005, when $600,000 in repairs were identified. It's notclear whether those repairs were made. Experts we spoke to said that astructure that had problems from its inception should have been inspected muchmore often.
The databasesystem set up to store the inventory of county buildings and their condition isincomplete and the county itself isn't even sure of the extent of neededrepairs. The best estimate of county auditors is $200 million in deferredmaintenance for parks buildings alone.
Routinemaintenance schedules don't exist, according to Bill Mollenhauer, staff representativefor AFSCME Local 882, which represents workers at county parks, public works,the airport grounds and the zoo.
“There isnext to zero preventative maintenance in the county,” Mollenhauer said.
AFSCME Local882 President Kurt Zunker said the skeleton staff at the Parks Department wouldhave merely swept and cleaned the O'Donnell structure, while the numbers ofskilled tradespeople “have been decimated,” thanks to budget cuts during theScott Walker administration.
According to FranMcLaughlin, spokeswoman for Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, theParks Department is responsible for putting together the list of O'Donnell Parkand parking structure maintenance projects.
And whilethe O'Donnell structure is a Parks Department building, County Auditor JeromeHeer, who's currently conducting an audit of facilities, said the Department ofTransportation and Public Works shares some responsibility.
“But it'ssort of a diffuse line of responsibility,” he said. “There's not a real focused point of contactin the government for these kinds of issues government-wide.”
ParksDirector Sue Black did not respond to the Shepherd'srequest for an interview. Department of Transportation and Public Works chiefJack Takerian was not available for comment.
IncompleteDatabase, Lack of Staffing
According toCounty Auditor Heer, those managing county buildings have access to theVanderweil Facility Advisors (VFA) database, which stores information aboutcounty buildings. Heer will be looking into the use of the database, howconsistently it's being used, and whether it's current.
But he saidthe VFA database is just the first step toward remedying infrastructureproblems.
“It's onething to have a good inventory and it's something else for workers to actuallyremedy it,” Heer said.
But is theVFA system holding an accurate inventory of buildings?
Not really,according to a December 2009 audit of the Parks Department, which turned up anumber of problems with the data. The data was so shoddy that the county can'teven pinpoint how much deferred maintenance exists: the Parks Departmentestimated that it's $275 million, while the auditor estimated that it's $200million.
The auditexplained why the numbers are so difficult to determine: “For the estimate tobe meaningful, all properties need to be assessed and the results input intoVFA. However, cuts in staff and funds to assess property needs have renderedthis feature ineffective, not just for Parks, but for other Countyinfrastructure as well.”
MilwaukeeCounty Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic, a member of the public works and parkscommittees, said she has been concerned about the county's crumblinginfrastructure for years. She had supported former Supervisor James White'samendments to expedite inspections of buildings, but those amendments failed tomake it into the 2007 and 2008 budgets.
“We are sofar behind in the assessment of the life cycles of our buildings,” Dimitrijevicsaid. “What good does the software do if you don't have the manpower to inputthe information or make the repairs?”
She saidthat her Green Print programwhich assesses energy efficiency in buildings todetermine upgradeswas a “backdoor way to get an assessment done.”
That said,after the tragedy Parks Director Sue Black released a list of repairs made toO'Donnell Park. None of them relate to the structure's façade, Black reported.Seven “currently critical” and other less critical problems had been remedied,according to the document, some by independent contractors and some by parksstaff.
The mostrecent major investment was the $155,000 installation of an electric gatesystem and the elimination of three of the four “clerk shacks where Countypersonnel manually collect parking fees.” The use of parking attendants wascalled “labor intensive and no longer cost-effective.”
AFSCME'sMollenhauer said that instead of waiting for a crisis, the county should setaside money for ongoing repairs.
“A roofwears out over the course of 30 years,” Mollenhauer said. “You should allocatemoney over those years so that when the roof needs to be replaced you have thefunds to do it.”
