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There were some red flags.
Fire Chief Martin Senterfitt says the city was aware of some problems in the new Duval County Courthouse before court operations began to move in to the new location, but they were unaware of the magnitude of those problems.
“The expectation was that all the problems we were experiencing a month ago would be fixed by now,” he says.
The biggest tie-up right now is coming in the Atrium of the building. Senterfitt says there is programming issues relating to the fire and smoke safety systems. If that portion, or any portion, of the building continue to fail testing scheduled to take place all day tomorrow, the parties involved are starting to roll out backup plans.
Plan A- If the building passes testing tomorrow entirely, Senterfitt says a certificate of occupancy will be issued and the Courthouse will be ready to open Monday morning.
Plan B- If parts of the building, like the Atrium, continue to fail, officials will begin a phased move-in. This allows occupancy in portions of the building that have passed testing while Turner Construction continues to work to fix problems in other portions. Senterfitt says the parts of the building that are not approved cannot have desks set up or any kind of occupancy, but it can be used as a transitional space, meaning people would be able to walk through the Atrium.
Plan C- Senterfitt says if Plan A and B fail, there will be a renewed look at some of the alternatives proposed by the Mayor’s Office last week, including relocating back to the old Courthouse. Several city officials, however, including Court Operations Director Steve Johnroe, have told WOKV that the old location has been gutted and even rat infested, and does not prove to be a very solid option.
Senterfitt sat with engineers, the construction company, judges and other fire and city officials last night for 6 hours to hammer out exactly where we stand right now. He says Turner is confident that at least large portions of the building will gain occupancy.
He says having a phased approach is not uncommon for a building of this magnitude.
“This is one of the most complex buildings the engineers have ever worked with.”
Which prompted the question of why the move in was allowed in the first place, if there were still very complex problems to be worked through. Senterfitt says there was a specific permit that allows a occupants to move in and begin training in the facility without allowing full occupancy. They were expecting to operate under that until the full certification which was supposed to happen before the scheduled opening this past Tuesday.
“The reality is, sometimes no matter what we think, things just don’t work out the way we wanted them to- and this was a case of that,” he says.
Regardless of whether the building gains full occupancy certification this weekend, jury duty in Duval County is cancelled for Monday.
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