The DeKalb County Courthouse’s old HVAC system became a topic of discussion last week during the County Commission’s Committee of the Whole meeting, after a local attorney addressed the sometimes uncomfortable conditions inside the building. County officials say they are aware of the issues and that the long-term solutions may be a costly one.
The DeKalb County Courthouse is the center of county government with the court system, offices of local public officials, the Election Commission, and the Veteran Services office located within. The building was constructed in 1970 through the Federal Model Cities program, but today the infrastructure of the building is showing its age. Due to the building’s old chiller boiler heating and cooling system, parts of the building become too hot in the summer and too cold during winter.
Local attorney Sarah Cripps addressed the Meeting of the Whole, asking commissioners that the old system be replaced.
“During the past quarter century, DeKalb County taxpayers have expended tens of thousands of dollars on repairs, replacement parts, and labor costs, all in a vain attempt to keep our old HVAC system limping along. In fact, repairs to the system are ongoing, including repairs to the boiler to remove asbestos and bring it into compliance with current codes as well as repairs to the various wall units throughout the courthouse. In my opinion, it is patently unreasonable to expect a 51-year-old HVAC unit to function at all, let alone operate well,” said Cripps.
“As there have been several new Commissioners seated in our most recent election, the history of the myriad problems with our HVAC system at the DeKalb County Courthouse may prove beneficial to you when making decisions moving forward as how best to resolve our continuing difficulties.” Cripps continued.
“The current heating and air conditioning system in our courthouse is the same system that was installed 50-plus years ago, when our present courthouse was constructed. Indeed, our HVAC system is so outdated that the entire building can have ONLY HEAT OR ONLY AIR CONDITIONING. Further, there has never existed any mechanism or method by which each room’s temperature can be controlled individually.”
County Mayor Matt Adcock said he was made aware of the problems when he came into office in September, and he has been working on the issue. According to Adcock, a faulty sensor periodically shuts down the cooling system through an alarm, which has to be manually reset, and a malfunctioning timer has had to be bypassed in order to keep the heating system operating. Adcock said that the system has been repaired for the time being, but it will eventually have to be replaced, possibly with a split unit which could cost $250,000.
“The courthouse was built in 1970, so I assume the chiller boiler system has the original piping,” said County Mayor Adcock. “I discovered when I came into office that some of the piping was rusted out so I called a company to come and check out the pipes. They wouldn’t touch it because it wasn’t state inspected, so I had to get somebody to come and certify the boiler. The boiler was so far out of spec that he gave me 30 days to comply. I had to put an Estop in and a carbon monoxide detector, an exhaust system, and a pressure relief valve. All that had to be installed in 30 days.”
“When we got that corrected I noticed there was still an issue with it, so I got someone from another company to come and look at it because some of the wall units in the building were not working, and he determined that rust had impacted in the piping. From the boiler, the pipe on one end is cast iron, and on the other end its copper. Over time rust has impacted inside that line going to the wall units,” said County Mayor Adcock.
“I asked the man from the HVAC company who inspected it what our options were to fix it and he told me that the best option is a split unit for the entire building, and to put condensers on top of the building. I sat down with him and made a short term and long-term plan for our situation.”
“This is only a short-term solution to a bigger problem. Long term we will need to invest some money to make split units go to every room in the courthouse so each room will have its own thermostat to heat or cool but it will cost close to a quarter of a million dollars to do the entire courthouse. I have scheduled a time with the HVAC technician and an engineer to come up with a plan,” said County Mayor Adcock.
