It is going to cost $600,000 (Six hundred thousand dollars) to stabilize the flawed Dover, Tennessee City Hall building, engineers say.
It might cost more.
That information was provided to the Dover Board of Mayor and Aldermen by their city engineer at their last regular city council meeting on Nov. 8 held at Dover City Hall.
The mid-1990s era building located on U.S. highway 79 (Fort Donelson Parkway) was literally built in a hole.
Apparently, according to the city engineer and a structural engineer brought in to assess the problems with the building, there was no apparent compacting — or at best little compacting — of the earth beneath the western portion of the municipal building prior to construction.
The engineers have been reviewing and assessing the issues with the Dover City Hall for several months. Last month the structural engineer said there appears to be little to no compacting of the earth under the western portion of the building. The city engineer at the November meeting echoed that assessment of lack of compacting or adequate compacting of earth prior to the building being constructed.
There are cracks in the walls, outside and in the basement. Bricks are falling from the building, some doors and windows do not open and close properly and the building itself seems to be moving away from the foundation.
Officials say the building must be stabilized.
When the land was being bought by the city and considered for the site of the new city hall, several Dover residents and taxpayers then highly encouraged city leaders, elected and appointed, to not buy the property and to not build the city hall in the hole.
But the project went forward and it is no surprise to many who watched the building go up in the mid-1990s, that it has major problems now that will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to correct.
The city engineer explained Nov. 8 that steel pylons must be pounded into the ground under the municipal building until they hit bedrock. The engineer said he has no idea how deep they will have to go to find solid rock.
One city council member Nov. 8 asked the city engineer if there could be any recourse for the City of Dover and if the municipality “could go back” on anyone.
“That would be a legal question and not an engineering question,” the city engineer said.
When the issues with the building were made public, months ago, some city officials said the problems were not as serious as some were claiming.
For years now it has been observed that windows and doors at the city hall building do not open and/or close properly. Large cracks have appeared on the outside wall of the building near the foundation and a very large crack has formed and is visible at the drive in window. There are also visible cracks in the concrete walls in the basement. The building appears to be moving away from the concrete foundation at the west end of the structure.
The plan and project to build the Dover, Tennessee City Hall in its current location was controversial at the outset. Several taxpayers and a former elected officials spoke up in opposition to the project at its current location, to no avail. Those who spoke in opposition pointed out that the location was a hole and that it was not a suitable location for a building, especially one funded with public dollars. They also said the City of Dover was overpaying for the five acre lot, which contains the hole on which city hall is built.
The land deal itself was controversial.
The lot where the Dover City Hall is now located is a five acre parcel. That five acre tract was part of an eight acre tract that was purchased in 1988 from the longtime landowner for ten thousand dollars ($10,000.)
In 1996, five of those eight acres were purchased by the City of Dover from the 1988 ;land buyer for $135,000 (One hundred and thirty five thousand dollars.)
The Dover Building and Codes department in the mid-1990s was instructed to not oversee the site preparation and construction of the current Dover City Hall, according to one former Dover city official
Current city officials say they want to repair the building and not use taxpayer dollars for the stabilization project
This story will update ——
Story by David R.. Ross — LBLUS.com
