NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Board of County Commissioners will have to decide what to do with the courthouse repairs when they meet on Tuesday and more details have been revealed as to the difference of opinion with regard to the reinforcement of the veneer on to the courthouse dome.
Simply put, the earthquakes Hutchinson had that caused the insurance claim didn't do enough damage to require reinforcement of the veneer, as a matter of code compliance, according to the insurance company's engineer.
Local engineer Brent Engelland told the county in an email, "Our take on it is that we do not feel like we can, in good conscious, leave things unconnected that were intended to be connected. Veneer blocks that were intended to be connected in the original design/construction, and no longer are, should be connected again."
With that said, since the insurance isn't going to pay for it, Engelland understands that the county may choose not to.
"Since we have been heavily involved in this process from the beginning, we need to make sure that we are protected from any future legal action if there are performance or safety issues with the veneer," Engelland said in his email.
He also made clear that those comments were in no way intended to be confrontational, he just wants everything on the record so that future governing bodies can make informed decisions if future seismic activity were to occur above and beyond what anybody expects right now, as it will be those commissioners job at that time to deal with their fiduciary responsibility to the county.
This is in addition to the repairs that need to be made to the slab, which the county has already agreed to have done, whether or not insurance would have covered it.
The Board of County Commissioners meets Tuesday at 9 a.m. at the Reno County Annex.