By Chad Selweski
The Macomb Daily
Nearly two years after damage from an electrical fire closed the old County Building in downtown Mount Clemens, officials have negotiated a $16 million insurance settlement to upgrade the structure so that it can reopen in 2017.
The county Board of Commissioners was told Thursday that reimbursement for millions of dollars in initial repairs and cleanup at the 13-story structure are covered under the settlement and $9.3 million in additional work will also be paid for by Travelers Property Casualty Company in 2015.
The restoration project is part of a much larger renovation plan for several county buildings, which will be financed by a $400 million municipal bond issue -- a borrowing measure that has become increasingly contentious among officials as the year comes to a close.
“We know this (negotiating) process took longer than expected,” said county Deputy Executive Mark Deldin, “but I can’t say enough about Ethan and his company for the work they did,” a reference to Ethan Gross of Globe Midwest. When settlement negotiations commenced last year, the Travelers insurance firm offered $4 million while the county’s insurance adjuster proposed $19 million.
In addition to repairs and renovations, the settlement covers costs incurred to move the county’s IT center, relocate employees, move and rent furniture, lease temporary office space, pay $14,000 in overtime pay to county workers, and perform $1 million in upgrades to bring the building up to code. Interior demolition at the shuttered facility began in recent days.
The structure suffered an electrical fire in March 2013 that substantially damaged the county’s computer mainframes, Internet connections and phone system, crippling much of county government for about a week. The 175 employees who worked in the building remain scattered across several sites in Mount Clemens.
As hundreds of members of the public who visit the building weekly were left to scramble around the city, looking for the temporary location of the office they were seeking, officials initially thought the County Building could reopen in about a year. But, with the multi-million dollar insurance settlement pending, the county executive’s office decided on an overhaul of the aging facility, which will eventually house almost exclusively offices for the county court system.
Prior to the fire, officials had already established long-term plans to modernize the County Building, an iconic structure topped by gargoyles that helps define downtown Mount Clemens.
The upcoming $432 million bond sale would finance the County Building modernization and much more.
Some $340 million would eliminate staggering debts racked up by the Board of Commissioners for decades as it promised lifetime health care to its retirees and their spouses without setting aside the necessary funds to pay for it.
About $60 million will pay for improvements at the five county buildings that dominate the downtown area. Another $37 million will finance a list of about two dozen long-needed repairs at other county facilities, including the jail, that consist of basic upgrades to roofing, plumbing, electrical units, and heating and cooling systems.
It was revealed at Thursday’s meeting of the board’s Finance Committee that delays in the bond sale, originally slated for final approval in November, will cost the county $2 million a month. So far, no board vote is scheduled for December. Once a successful vote is held, the state Department of Treasury will likely spend 30 to 45 days approving the bond issue.
A lengthy battle between the commissioners and County Executive Mark Hackel over the Martha T. Berry Medical Care Facility is at the heart of the bond sale delay. As the three-member Human Services Board moves toward taking full control of the nursing home facility, $16 million in retiree health care liabilities accumulated over many years at the medical center remain in contention.
“The question is,” Deldin said, “how much of the $16 million is the county liable for and how much of the liability falls to Martha T.?”
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