Interim Dover City Administrator Charles Parks, Sr., said “pilot holes’ must be dug into the foundation of Dover’s mid-1990s era city hall building before officials will know the extent of the foundation problems with the building. And that won’t happen for weeks. “Right now we don’t know what we are dealing with,” Parks said. He said a structural engineer is being brought in to do “core drilling” in order to find the “hard pan” or solid earth under the building. Dover residents who have been in town for a while remember that the lot where the current city hall sits was once a large hole, or ravine. Some say the building may even have been built on a sinkhole. Parks admitted there are “cracks all around the building.” He said, “It is not known where the hardpan is.” City officials have approved up to $4,000 for Rye Engineering of Erin, TN to oversee the core drilling. When asked if he could estimate how much it is going to cost to properly stabilize the building, Parks said, “I’d be afraid to say.” He has said previously it may cost in excess of $150,000 to stabilize the building. Dover City Council and Dover’s planning commission meets on the second Monday of the month and at their next meeting the panels may vote to recommend approval and then sale of a vacant lot beside the flawed city hall. Some city officials who do not want to sell the lot say the land may be needed to house departments of the city, like the fire department currently located in the basement of the city hall, if the problems in the building turn out to be major issues.
