MilwaukeeCounty Executive Scott Walker had eliminated $150,000 in funding for thecountywide buildings assessment program in his 2008 budget.
Butfollowing the June tragedy at O'Donnell Park, Walker has allocated $700,000 onno-bid contracts for emergency inspections on county buildings and has proposedto add $1.5 million for inspections in his 2011 budget.
Thetragedyand the two no-bid contracts given to consultants immediately after thefatal accidenthas raised questions about the county's oversight of itsfacilities.
SupervisorMarina Dimitrijevic blasted Walker'sbudgeting skills and foresight.
“The reasonwhy we're in this circumstance is because Scott Walker refused to have anhonest conversation about the budget and Milwaukee County'sneeds,” Dimitrijevic said. “This man has no record to stand on. What was soshocking to us is that he vetoed the very funding that we sought to do[inspections] and now he has the nerve to talk about presenting a $1.5 millionexpenditure for these very actions. And he called us ‘political.' How politicalis never funding it and now funding it 10 times over?”
For 12years, the county had maintained a Building Inventory and Assessment Program,within the Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW), whichtypically utilized private contractors to thoroughly assess county facilitiesinternally and externally.
“Ourarchitectural engineers hired an outside firm to do those assessments,” DTPWDirector Jack Takerian told the Shepherdon Tuesday.
But Walker cut the $150,000for the program in his proposed 2008 budget.
The boardadded that $150,000 back into the budget for “contracted services” to retainthe program. But Walkervetoed that amendment, stating that DTPW had sufficient resources to do thework without the money.
The boardcould not get the two-thirds vote needed to override Walker's veto.
That wasn'tthe first time the board sought to support the program with additional funding.
In the 2007budget, Supervisor Michael Mayo, worried by the slow pace of inspections, hadattempted to increase funding for the program from $150,000 to $596,200. Butthat amendment failed to pass the county board.
Departmental‘Evaluations'
Since Walker's 2008 budgetveto, Takerian said individual departments have been responsible for“evaluating” their own buildings. The funding for these evaluations would betaken out of each department's budget.
According toa list of the most recent assessments of county buildings, which Takerianreleased to the county supervisors last week, few departmental evaluations havebeen conducted since the assessment program was abolished.
None appearto have been done in 2010. Only four assessments were conducted in 2009on thepavilion on Clarke Square,a comfort station in Estabrook Park, a maintenance building in Greenfield Park and askate shelter in King Park. All of thosefacilities are overseen by the Parks Department. The last “large chunk” ofevaluations, as Takerian put it, was conducted in 2007.
The listdoesn't include information about what inspectors found or whether repairs wereneeded or completed. Takerian said he hadn't been asked to provide thatinformation to the board.
Walker has stated that he wants to add $1.5 millionto his next budget to resume assessing the county's facilities. Takerian saidthat money would go to DTPW's Architectural and Engineering Division, which hadoverseen the original assessment program.
“Not all ofthe county buildings have been assessed,” Takerian said. “The funds we arelooking at for 2011 are to get a big chunk of those buildings that have not hadassessments done before we start reassessing buildings again.”
HaroldMester, spokesman for Milwaukee County Board Chair Lee Holloway, saidsupervisors were concerned about the oversight and administration of thebuilding assessments.
“There is noadopted policy for building inspections,” Mester said.
The mostrecent full assessment of the O'Donnell Park parking structure was conducted in2004-2005, Takerian said. The list provided to the board states that thestructure was last assessed on June 26, 2006.
“Graef camein to do an assessment on some cracking,” Takerian said about the 2006 work.“That would be the last time the building was assessed for something.”
Graef is theoutside firm that won a no-bid contract for $300,000 to do façade inspectionsof the exteriors of county-owned buildings. It is listed as the “engineer ofrecord” on O'Donnell. Inspec Inc. is conducting a thorough inspection of theO'Donnell structure. The cost is estimated to be $400,000.
Although theinvestigation is still under way, Walkertold reporters that investigators have found no likely cause for the accidentother than the way the 13-ton concrete panel was hung when the structure wasbuilt. After being criticized for arriving at a conclusion before investigatorshave completed their work, Walkerhas backtracked from those comments.
Findingthe Money
Takerianappeared before the full board of supervisors last Thursday, the first time theboard has been briefed on the emergency inspections. He said that roughly 70%of the inspections had been done at that point.
Supervisorsquestioned the thoroughness of the inspections being done by Graef. In a July 1memo to Walker and Holloway, Takerian wrote that he had directed Graef toreview facades, overhangs and other exterior areas for safety risks. Onlybuildings that are more than one story with a masonry exterior are beingreviewed. Those that have been inspected within the last five years are notbeing reviewed.
Supervisorssaid that they wanted a more thorough assessment of buildingsincludinginteriors of facilitiesas well as an estimate of the cost.
Supervisorshad also attempted to approve an independent investigation of the O'Donnellstructure, but failed to get the two-thirds vote needed to suspend the rulesand pass a measure before it has been approved by a committee.
Supervisorsalso questioned how the emergency contracts would be paid for. Cynthia Archer,director of the Department of Administrative Services, said the funds wereneeded because it was a matter of public safety. She did not explain how thecounty would come up with the $700,000. By law, the county cannot end the yearwith a deficit.
SupervisorDimitrijevic told the Shepherd thatDTPW would have to present a corrective action plan to the board to cover the$700,000. That plan could include cuts to programs or even layoffs to cover theemergency expense.
Walker has not indicated how he would pay for the$1.5 million he wants to add to the budget in 2011.
