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Edgerton City Hall needs immediate repairs: Engineer

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Edgerton City Hall

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

The parking lot adjacent to Edgerton’s City Hall is planned as the site of the new City Hall, but an engineer says the walls on the current building require attention before that project takes place. Repairs could cost between $7,000 and $15,000.

EDGERTON — Edgerton already is working on a plan to replace its aging city hall.

And it looks like the city doesn't have a moment to lose.

In fact, Edgerton City Hall is in such poor shape that an engineer recommends the city make immediate repairs, even though the city is hoping to build a new hall in the next few years.

The report from Kent Fish of General Engineering Co., Portage, says the eastern portions of the north and south walls have deteriorated and are in danger of failing, which would cause the roof to collapse.

Fish said he doesn't believe the building is in immediate danger, but it is too big a liability to ignore.

"Chances are, you could leave this right as it is for the next couple of years and not have any problem," he said.

The Edgerton City Council last month set June 2009 as the tentative month for a referendum to replace the 100-year-old city hall building. An ad-hoc committee chose the municipal parking lot next to the existing building as the best site for a new city hall.

But Fish said the city should repair its deteriorating walls even if it expects to have a new building in a few years.

Water leakage has caused the north and south walls to bow outward at the middle and inward at the top, Fish wrote.

"There's a parapet, so the water runs off the roof right directly to the side of the wall, and that over the years has caused so much deterioration of the wall that the walls have bowed significantly," he said.

Fish suggested the city install a post inside the building and a "stiffener beam" outside the building to firm up the roof and walls for the next few years.

"If it was going to be longer than that, I would say let's just reconstruct the walls," he said.

He also recommended the city tear down the old building when and if the new one is built.

Fish estimated the temporary repair would cost between $7,000 and $15,000.

The city has requested bids for the work and expects replies by Wednesday, Dec. 10, Administrator Ramona Flanigan said. The city council probably will discuss the bids at its Monday, Dec. 15, meeting, she said.

"I think the council will feel the urgency to doing something," she said.

The expenditure would require a budget amendment for 2008 or 2009, depending on when the council approves the work, she said.