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Thursday, February 21, 2008

Ind. Courts - "Courthouse elevator repair plan stuck"

Andy Grimm reports in the Gary Post Tribune:

CROWN POINT -- Plans to repair the perpetually malfunctioning elevators at Lake County's Gary courthouse remain stuck in the basement after a county Board of Commissioners meeting Wednesday.

Commissioners and members of the County Council will meet to discuss how to invest upward of $550,000 in elevator repairs to meet specifications from the council, without breaching a contract the commissioners signed with Long Elevator.

At the request of the council, commissioners put out bids to fix the aging elevators, which regularly stall and trap courthouse visitors and require frequent, piecemeal repairs.

"They asked us to do one thing, and now they asking for something different," said Commissioner Gerry Scheub, noting that attorneys representing Gary-based Long Elevator were in the audience at Wednesday's meeting.

"I'm just trying to get done what needs to be done without getting in a lawsuit," Scheub said.

County Council members, conferring with an energy-efficiency consultant, said Long is unable to provide the needed upgrades and that repairs should be paid for with energy-savings bonds.

The county also could face complaints under the Americans With Disabilities Act, said Scheub, who takes the stairs whenever he visits the Gary courthouse.

"They are breaking down all the time. They're used up," he said.

Scheub is not alone in the Gary stairwells. Judge Gerald Svetanoff, who has had a courtroom in Gary for 26 years, has avoided the elevators for well over a decade.

"It keeps me fit ... but it's obviously a matter that requires attention," Svetanoff said. "It's not that they're malfunctioning during the day, every day, but it is an issue the commissioners need to deal with."

Readers will recall the 2004 SCOTUS decision in Tennessee v. Lane. Here is a Business Week story from May 27, 2004.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 21, 2008 10:45 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts