County Building Damage Estimated at $45 Million

The Cedar River continues to rise around City Hall and May's Island Thursday afternoon, June 12, 2008. The river rose above record levels Thursday, and is expected to crest Friday morning. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

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County Building Damage Estimated at $45 Million

By Dave Franzman, Reporter

By Becky Ogann

CEDAR RAPIDS - $45 million dollars is the working estimate now for flood damage to ten Linn County buildings.

Linn County Supervisors let us inside the courthouse, jail and other important county buildings for the first time since the floods hit last month.

The county had contractors on the job within days of the flooding, pumping out water and trying to limit damage to interiors. At the county's administration building and the courthouse, water was confined to the lower levels only. But those levels contained main electrical and heating and cooling controls as well as elevators and other major equipment. Work is well underway at drying things out and removing damaged material, but the pace may slow when it's time to find contractors to begin repairs.

"We're going to be competing for resources just like every business in town every residential home in town so we'll be competing for parts to fix elevators to fix air conditioning...to get the people in here," said Joel Miller, Linn County Auditor.

County officials say because the water did not get into the main floor of the courthouse...it may be possible to seal off the lower level for repairs and reopen the upper floors. But the courthouse would still have to have working power, elevators and other essentials ready even with a sealed lower level. One optimistic guess is a limited courthouse might reopen in two to three months.

Due to more specialized security equipment, the jail might take as long as six months to a year to reopen.

Incidentally, the $45 million guess for total county property damage is almost half the annual budget for all of Linn County.
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Saturday, Jul 5 at 2:13 PM Untold story wrote ...

What nobody hears about is the truth, came from a member of the sheiff's dept. The supevisors demanded their offices be the highest priority even over the jail. So we are paying to house inmates at these other 4 locations while they work on fixing the jail, which isn't even at the top of the priority list. As he put it, Moe, Larry, and Curly have to have their offices done before everything else. Maybe its time for some new Linn County supervisors.

Friday, Jul 4 at 10:58 PM wise money wrote ...

Why not keep them at Westdale? It's a solution to two problems- it fills up unused space at the mall and might bring in some more traffic to the loyal stores who have remained. The mall already has elevators,escalators, public restrooms and plenty of parking. If you stop into some of the city offices that are there now- quite a few people working there made comments that it is a perfect location. Maybe its time the city looked at practical solutions instead of ways to attempt to spend more money

Friday, Jul 4 at 11:37 AM Fire Dept wrote ...

To the idiot who replied to Westdale Mall.... That is why we have fire codes, fire walls, fire alarms, sprinkler systems, and so on.

Friday, Jul 4 at 8:27 AM Anonymous wrote ...

Geez the majority are cynical, sarcastic, and down right mean with most of the comments. Have you heard the saying if you have nothing nice to say say nothing?

Friday, Jul 4 at 8:02 AM bob wrote ...

KCRG REALLY NEEDS TO MONITOR THESE COMMENTS ! Pedifile PERVERTS like "1:22 AM To the westdale mall idiot wrote ..." need to be keep off this forum.

Friday, Jul 4 at 7:41 AM CC wrote ...

They won't have to wait for contractors, they just won't give building permits to the rest of the victims until the city buildings are finished. WTF is CR waiting on? Iowa City/Corralville was flooded much longer and is already issuing building permits so the flood victims can get started repairing. Time to elect new city officials.

Friday, Jul 4 at 3:56 AM Aww wrote ...

No jail with "specialized security"? Boo hoo. Guess they'll have to stop arresting countless Cedar Rapids residents for awhile, huh?

Friday, Jul 4 at 1:22 AM To the westdale mall idiot wrote ...

I love how all you mfer's think that the solution is to move all city commerce to Westdale Mall. The question I have is what happens when the mall catches on fire and burns everything to the ground? Then what? If it were up to me I would move all operations to the Adult Shop parking lot on 6th. Street. That way I could get my rocks off and discipline certain white folk and FEEL really good about it. (Rubbing up against certain white boys).

Thursday, Jul 3 at 8:41 PM Westdale Mall wrote ...

Why not move all county offices to Westdate Mall? It is nice to see that building put to good use again. Besides, it would be all together and FREE, yes FREE parking. Bet the city would find a way to put meters in......

Thursday, Jul 3 at 6:50 PM coffers wrote ...

that will fill some coffers!

Thursday, Jul 3 at 6:34 PM TD wrote ...

"we'll be competing for parts to fix elevators to fix air conditioning...." Good, maybe they'll get screwed over just like many of the CR residents are getting.........hey, it's just competition baby.

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