Courthouse Proud! Feel The Burn!

Last July, due to Chris Abele's agenda of austerity, some ancient electrical equipment at the Milwaukee County Courthouse got too hot and caught on fire.  Eight months later and they are still not done recovering from the fire.  And as the elapsed amount of time piles up, so does the cost of the clean up and repairs.

Sadly, as I have been reporting all along, Milwaukee County taxpayers are going to have to pick up at least some of the bill.  So far, the taxpayers' share is in the neighborhood of $2 million, but that seems like that is a hopeful estimate:

The disclosure of the need for additional repairs that will fall on taxpayers drew criticism from supervisors at a meeting of the County Board's judiciary committee.

"We have been told time after time after time that insurance would cover everything," Supervisor Mark Borkowski said. He said he would base any future votes on paying for fire costs on those assurances.

County Executive Chris Abele said "every dime" of fire costs would be covered by insurance, during a Feb. 14 press briefing in a courthouse basement room where massive new electrical components had been installed.

Courthouse repair costs through March are now estimated at $17.5 million, all expected to be covered by insurance, said Don Tyler, the county's administrative services director. Tyler said he couldn't rule out additional costs beyond that figure.

Abele's people are quick to point out that the $2 million hit to the taxpayers isn't directly related to the fire. The cost is due to other areas of deferred maintenance and neglected repairs that came to the surface because of the fire. This isn't surprising considering that the fire was caused by deferred maintenance and neglected repairs.

During this fire and its aftermath, Abele has shown himself to be more and more like his predecessor and mentor, Scott Walker.  With Abele, as it is with Walker, there's more.  There's always more.

This time, the more is having incompetent and/or corrupt staff ripping off the taxpayers.

Problems started immediately when Abele's head of risk management, Cindy van Pelt, felt that her two week vacation was more important than handling this emergency.

Van Pelt's replacement and safety director, Dennis Dietscher, was arrested for suspicion of funneling county money to his personal roofing business.  Since his arrest last month, Dietscher has been on paid leave from his more than $75,000 job. (It does make me curious why Dietscher is allowed to have a paid suspension when one knows damn well that Abele would not afford such a consideration to a rank and file worker.)

Along with Dietscher, a salesman for Universal Restoration was arrested.  The significance of this is that the salesman used to work for Dietscher's side business.  On top of that, Universal Restoration was given a no bid contract for the clean up of the courthouse.

It's starting to look like they were cleaning up more than just the courthouse.

Another burning question - excuse the pun - is whether Dietscher and his buddy got a couple of those fancy "Courthouse Proud" t-shirts.  After all, per Abele's spokesperson, Brenda Conway, one had to "earn" those shirts.

Maybe Abele should see if his connections could donate some more of those shirts to him.  He could then sit outside the courthouse trying to sell them to help pay for the costs of his fire.

He could even call it a fire sale.

Some Days, An Emperor Just Can't Get Any Respect

On Thursday, Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele woke up with a smile on his face.  He just knew that this was going to be a great day.

He was scheduled to meet his good friend, President Barack Obama.  Abele had been telling people for days how Obama has been consulting with him on how to raise the minimum wage and it would be good to get some national attention in case he decided to run against Russ Feingold to take on Senator Ron Johnson.

Then, after meeting with his good chum he would return to the Milwaukee County Courthouse to watch his lackeys work the County Board's Finance, Personnel and Audit Committee so that he could get several million dollars to his corporate pals and then really stick it to both the low wage workers in the county as well as those pesky county workers themselves.

Yes, it would be a grand day indeed, and well worth giving up his usual routine of spending the morning at Collectivo and the afternoon at the University Club with his fellow plutocrats of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, toasting each other and congratulating themselves for being masters of the universe.

Still smiling in anticipation, Abele stretched and got out of bed.  He decided not to show up his BFF Obama and so when he slipped out of his silk pajamas, he decided to put on a suit instead of his usual ermine robe.

Little did he know just how wrong he was.

When he got to the airport to wait for good old Barry, he was glad to see the snow had not started falling yet.  At the expected time, Air Force One landed and the President disembarked with US Congresswoman Gwen Moore.

But as his good friend Barry Obama was acknowledging the various local dignitaries, he got to the Emperor and called him County Executive Chris Abila.  Not only did the President screw up his name he got the title wrong.  Even worse, it showed everyone that he was lying about his closeness with Obama.

The last part was the worst.  He was counting on using that charade to keep the Board from passing that horrible resolution that would require county employees and anyone working for a company that contracts with the county or gets money from the county to get paid a living wage.  Well, not quite a living wage, since it was only 100% of the poverty level.

Regardless, he was hoping to distract the supervisors with this fake out, hoping they would settle for the sub-poverty rate of $10.10 per hour, even though he secretly knew that even that small increase was not likely to happen.

After doing his stint with Obama and still trying to keep a positive outlook, he had his chauffeur drive him to the courthouse so that he could listen in on the committee meeting as they stuck it to the little people and help his corporate pals out.

But even that went wrong.

He quickly learned that a large number of the unwashed masses of common workers were crowding the committee room to push for the living wage.  He felt anger and dread wash over his body as the committee foolishly listened to those commoners and voted for the living wage, 7-2.

What was wrong with these supervisors?! Didn't they know that might cut into the many millions of dollars his friends stood to gain as he privatized and/or sold off every part of the county he could?!

Abele's - or rather - Abila's day just kept getting worse.

He had sent his top man in to get the committee to approve a pay out worth several millions of dollars to give to the companies that were still cleaning up the mess left from Abele's fire last summer.  He was hoping that the supervisors would be gullible enough to believe him when he said that the check from the insurance companies would be in the mail.  In a few months.  Maybe.

To Abila's disbelief, those rubes called supervisors balked at giving the insurance companies free loans - or maybe even gifts - by holding it over until next weeks meeting of the whole board.

Oh, well.  Abila consoled himself with the thought that he would soon have his Crosswalk plan in place.  He was very proud of his Crosswalk plan.  Not only did he take $5 million from the county workers to help increase the surplus to $14 million, but now he was going to take away their rights like seniority, grievances, vacations and fair work conditions.

But Abila's jaw fell to the floor as that uppity Supervisor Dave Cullen immediately moved to have the issue tabled until the call of the chair (that's legalese for putting his scheme in indefinite resolution purgatory) and called for the vote.  Those rotten upstarts then proceeded to vote it into limbo unanimously.

How dare they!  Abila was so upset that he stomped around his throne room for a whole two minutes, until he got too tired and had to sit down.

Don't they know who he is? He's Emperor Abila, er, Abele.  How dare these fools stand up for the commoners and the little people!

Sighing, Abila regained his composure somewhat and vowed to take his revenge on those uppity supervisors, especially that rotten chairwoman, Marina Dimitrijevic.  And then he would be able to do what he wanted with those miserable serfs.

Abila let out another deep sigh.

Some days, an emperor just can't get any respect.

Author's note: To make it satire, some fiction was added - Abele's robe is really sable, not ermine.

Abele's Courthouse Fire Becoming An Eternal Flame

Last July, due to Abele's deferred maintenance and austerity measures, the Milwaukee County Courthouse suffered a lot of damage when some outdated and poorly maintained electrical equipment caught on fire.

Since then, the costs of the clean up and repairs have run well over $10 million dollars and is expected to top $15 million before it's all said and done.

Even more worrisome, it appears that the insurance companies might have stopped paying for Abele's fire altogether and Abele is expecting the taxpayers to cover the cost of his ineptitude:

But the bills have been piling up since Nov. 1, the last time the fund made a payment on the courthouse fire claims.

"Now they've taken a pause," Tyler said. The state fund halted payments for the fire recovery work about three months ago, pending the outcome of an investigation into the cause of the electrical fire.

Tyler is seeking County Board approval to pull $4 million from a county contingency fund to cover work completed in 2013 but not yet paid for, he said.

He also wants board authority for spending another $3 million on repairs made this year through March. Tyler didn't specify what county account that money would come from.

Local contractors shouldn't have to wait any longer to get paid, Tyler told members of the County Board's Transportation, Public Works and Transit Committee.

He called his county funding request "a belt-and-suspenders strategy," in which the county money would be available to pay fire-related bills until the insurance money arrives.

Tyler said he was assured by the state insurance commissioner at a meeting last week that the county's fire costs would be covered.

But, he added, "I can't put a guarantee on it."

Gee, now I can see why Abele is so desperate to make sure his political appointees get paid so lavishly! That is some high-grade lying and question-dodging right there!

The fact that the insurance companies are putting their checkbooks away shouldn't surprise anyone.

As noted above, the fire was the result of not replacing or even properly maintaining outdated electrical equipment. On top of that, Abele had important evidence "accidentally" destroyed to try to cover up his failure.

Supervisor Michael Mayo put it quite succinctly on what's going on and what needs to be done to protect the taxpayers from Abele's incompetence and maleficence:

Mayo also questioned whether the County’s insurance companies have stopped paying for repairs because the cause of the fire has yet to be determined. He said media reports indicated key components of the electrical system disappeared after the fire, making it difficult to determine the cause.

“Are they trying to cover for the fact that these components are missing and the insurance companies turned off the money spigot?” he said. “They say they want to pay small vendors who have worked to repair fire damage, but what they are really doing is making sure the big boys get paid. In the past they’ve never shown concern for small business. But when they owe big contractors, they want to make sure they pay them.

“I question the need to make these fund transfers, and I hope the Board will demand more transparency from this administration before we approve them. I want to make sure taxpayers are not on the hook for the costs of this fire.”

Indeed, it's time for Abele to live up to his thus far empty boasts of being accountable by, y'know, actually being accountable.  Telling us what is really going on and taking responsibility for the consequences of his actions and inactions would be a good place to start.

Taxpayers Could Still Be On The Hook For Abele's Courthouse Fire

On July 6, 2013, there was a fire in the Milwaukee County Courthouse.  Officially, no one is admitting to having a clue as to the cause of the fire, but they have ruled out arson.  But by a report that was done earlier in the year and by the words of Chris Abele himself, it is fairly common knowledge that deferred maintenance led to the fire.

We learned about six weeks ago that the county taxpayers could be on the hook for at least part of the $10 million cost of the fire due to the shabby maintenance and lack of safety equipment.

Now we are learning that not only has the cost of the fire continued to climb, and not only is Abele and his staff still lying about the fire but now it appears that evidence crucial to the investigation was "accidentally" destroyed:

The missing equipment still remains a hot topic between two insurers county officials hope will cover virtually all the fire's costs. The issue also has prompted renewed criticism by county supervisors that Abele's administration has botched its handling of the fire issue.

The circuit breakers — each about 3 feet high and 3 feet wide and weighing up to 1,400 pounds — were dismantled and scrapped by a county employee within a few weeks of the fire, according to county officials.

The breakers were mistakenly "red-tagged" for disposal by one of the county's two property insurance companies or a subcontractor overseeing the investigation into the cause of the fire. Equipment damaged in the fire and intended to be preserved was supposed to be marked by blue tags.

[...]

But some county supervisors fear the destroyed equipment could cause trouble in getting the fire costs fully covered.

"The issue is between the insurance companies" and whether they balk at paying a portion of the county's fire claim based on foul-ups by county officials, said Supervisor John Weishan Jr.

He faulted Don Tyler, Abele's top aide, for his handling of the fire recovery and for a lack of candor in responding to supervisors' questions.

"I've asked and I didn't get a straight answer" to the question of who was responsible for throwing out the fire-damaged electrical components, Weishan said.

Abele said: "We've shared every bit of information that we can, when we've been able to, with the (County) Board."

Fire repair costs through the end of last year were estimated at $13.5 million and are expected to rise several million more before the job is completed. The county has so far received $9.5 million from the state's Local Government Property Insurance Fund, the county's primary insurer.

The fund, however, has a $1.8 million cap on claim payouts. The state fund has paid out far in excess of its cap on the expectation it could recover the excess cost from a secondary insurer, Lexington Insurance Co.

I find it hard to believe that these pieces of equipment were "mistakenly" tagged wrong and destroyed.  The pieces are just too big to be missed and not recognized for what they were unless it was done by a lay person, such as one of Abele's administrators.  Some who are familiar with the courthouse's electrical grid said that the only thing that surprised them is that this didn't happen sooner.

I am glad that the paper appears to be staying on top of this story.  Maybe they'll even look into the number of higher level people in Abele's Department of Administration who are taking sudden retirements or, as many of Abele's other top people are doing, looking for other jobs.

Courthouse (Not So) Proud

While he was Milwaukee County Executive, Scott Walker was notorious for his willful neglect of county

property and had racked up hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance and repairs.  His successor and protege, Chris Abele is keeping the tradition of letting things go to rot while he lounged at his favorite coffee shop and/or exclusive club.

The most recent reported result of this unhealthy adoration of austerity occurred on July 6, 2013, when the Milwaukee County Courthouse caught on fire.  It was quickly apparent to everyone but Abele's most ardent apologists that Abele was busy plotting with his fellow plutocrats at Greater Milwaukee Committee on how to usurp control of the county, which caused him to first delay getting an inspection done of all county buildings and then willfully failing to act on the recommendations from the inspection.

Initial reports claimed that the damage was only half a million dollars. That number quickly grew to $2 million and the majority of the courthouse had to be closed for two weeks.  Even as Abele started to reopen the courthouse, it was pretty obvious that it was not ready as that the power was insufficient to keep the building cooled off during a severe hot spell, causing workers and visitors to become ill.

It is being reported now that the damage from the fire has climbed to $6 million and that it's sill climbing. Don Tyler, Abele's Director of Administrative Services has finally admitted that the insurance might not cover the full cost of the repairs and clean up, but sandwiched that admission between a couple of lies (emphasis mine):

He said he could not estimate how high the eventual damage amount will be.

Tyler also said he had no information on the cause of the fire. That's under investigation by a firm hired by the state insurance fund, he said.

County auditors also are conducting a review of the cause and costs of the fire.

Under questioning by supervisors, Tyler said it was possible some costs of the fire may not be covered by insurance if it's shown that the courthouse electrical equipment wasn't properly maintained.

Supervisor Gerry Broderick suggested that deferred maintenance "and not replacing malfunctioning parts" played a role in the fire.

Tyler called that "pure conjecture." He said nothing had been turned up yet on the cause.

Tyler was either lying when he said that Broderick's statement was pure conjecture or he was calling his boss a liar, since it was just days after the fire broke out that Abele admitted that it was the faulty equipment (again, emphasis mine):

The fire began at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in a large basement utility room with numerous electrical systems inside. Fire officials estimated the cost of the damage to the building at $368,000, and the property damage inside was estimated at $150,000.

"Some equipment is older than it probably should be," Abele said of the utility room's contents.

It should be noted that Michael Horne, reporting for Urban Milwaukee, points out that there had been previous concerns about the archaic electrical system in the courthouse:

The Milwaukee County Courthouse was closed for two days after an electrical fire on July 6th. But signs of hazardous conditions in the downtown complex should have been evident as early as June 21st.

On that day, Court Commissioner Barry Slagle, who was presiding at his desk in the criminal intake court in the criminal justice facility, received a tremendous electrical shock when he reached forward to adjust his microphone.

Underscoring the seriousness of the situation, Slagle has not returned to work, nearly three months after the accident. Circuit Court Administrator Bruce Harvey confirmed the accident, as did other court officials, including a judge. Asked if Slagle is OK, Harvey said, “I will not comment on the medical condition of court officials,” but confirmed that Slagle has not been back to the courthouse since the accident.

On a final note, I would point out that when Abele finally did open the courthouse, even though it was obviously not done being cleaned and repaired, Abele tried to distract the public from remembering his role in the fire by having a pep rally-like event, having banners and t-shirts with the words "Courthouse Proud" and a mock up of the Blue Fist which became popular during the Act 10 protests. At the time of Abele's self-serving and tainted fanfare, Dave Eisner, contract administrator for AFSCME District Council 48, made it clear that this was not a smart move by Abele:

The "Courthouse Proud" logo features four blue upraised fists and forearms as pillars on the courthouse against a red background.

The much publicized and widely reprinted blue fist on "Stand with Wisconsin" posters during the 2011 battle over collective bargaining at the Capitol has just one clenched fist, blue against a red background.

David Eisner, contract administrator for District Council 48 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said the banner and shirts won't sit well with many employees.

Abele is "trying to distract or distort the real issue and make it into kind of a pep rally thing," Eisner said. The courthouse's aging electrical infrastructure should have been maintained better so the fire didn't happen, he said.

"It's a buncha crap, that's what I say," said Eisner.

I had a chance to speak with Eisner on Thursday evening. I asked his opinion of the latest round of news regarding the courthouse ongoing state of repair. Eisner said, and I quote:

I say it's still a a buncha crap.

Indeed.

My suggestion for Abele would be to redo the logo from fists to a row of hands doing a facepalm. Not only would it be appropriate for his bungled leadership leading up to and after the fire, but it would also serve as an appropriate backdrop for when he delivers his proposed budget next week.

The Walker Agenda Is Still Working! Part CXCVIII

Another shining example of how well businesses can regulate themselves and how they are really concerned about protecting the environment:

After a nearly four-month Department of Natural Resources investigation into the cause of the Germann Road Fire, a commercial logging company will be billed for more than $600,000 after the investigation determined the company’s negligence caused the forest fire to start and spread.

The fire was the state’s largest in 33 years and burned 7,442 acres in Douglas County. The fire began about 2:45 p.m. May 14 and burned an area nearly 10 miles long and a mile and a half wide before it was contained about 9 p.m. on May 15. Forty-seven structures were destroyed, including 17 homes or cabins, in the Towns of Gordon and Highland.

A logging crew was harvesting timber on industrial timber lands when the fire began. At the time, the crew acknowledged the fire had started at the work site and that they had unsuccessfully attempted to contain it. However, the investigation found that the crew and company, Ray Duerr Logging, withheld information from department law enforcement officials.

The investigation determined the crew had attempted to contain the fire using a fire extinguisher and a pressurized water system installed on the harvesting equipment and called 911, but the company was negligent for failing to maintain equipment at the logging site that could have prevented, or contained the fire, which was started by the cutting head of a Timberjack 840. Logging company owner Ray Duerr bought the used machine in 2013.

The report further reported that the Timberjack 840 had its own built in fire extinguisher which workers tried to use but the extinguisher failed. The problem was that there was not enough air pressure to push the water out. Management admitted they never even tested this vital piece of equipment, much less maintained it properly.

Now, if we allow Walker to remain in office next year, do you really think that his administration will do anything but join the company in lighting cigars off the fire?

Questions Abound In Courthouse Fire

As the gentle reader knows, on July 6, 2013 there was a massive fire at the Milwaukee County Courthouse. Most of the courthouse was shut down for a week due to the damage and inability to keep the building adequately powered during that time.

The local paper is now reporting on some new evidence that has come out which really answers nothing.  The gist of the article is that there is still no explanation for a 24 minute delay in the reporting of the fire to the Milwaukee Fire Department, which Zach Wisniewski at Blogging Blue has pointed out.

But other questions which are just as pertinent, if not more so, also still remain:

• Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele still has to be forthcoming with the cause  of the fire, even though he's already admitted that the electrical equipment which caught on fire was outdated and in desperate need of replacement.
• Why is the county doing the investigation and not a neutral party with expertise in the field, such as the Milwaukee Fire Department?
• Why was Cindy van Pelt, the risk management director, on vacation for two weeks after the fire?
• Why did Abele fire van Pelt just as the county was putting in a huge insurance claim?

This is starting to smell of a cover up, similar to the one Scott Walker pulled with the tragedy at O'Donnell Park while he was running for governor.

Courthouse Proud!

On Saturday, July 6, there was a massive fire at the Milwaukee County Courthouse which started when the very old and out of code electrical infrastructure started on fire.  Since the fire, Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele has been doing his best to control the message and the spin so that people don't focus on the cost of the clean up and repairs, the risk he is putting people in by opening parts of the courthouse too soon and the fact that the fire stemmed from his deferred maintenance and willful failure to replace the faulty equipment even though he had been warned of the danger.

While Abele is trying to come off as transparent and working real hard to fix the problem, there are things that he is omitting, besides the fact that he is responsible for the damage and added expense to the taxpayers.
Some of the highlights he somehow fails to mention include:

• People involved in the risk management field have said that if the fire had occurred at any other time than a holiday weekend, people would have probably died,
• Abele's Director of Risk Management, Cindy van Pelt, was on vacation starting the day before the fire and did not return until July 18th,
• The electrical equipment was known to easily overheat and they had large industrial fans blowing on it to keep it from overheating, and
• When Abele directed the Child Support Enforcement workers back to the courthouse, it was before their work area was clean.  The area was sooty, smoky and filled with dead roaches.  Workers were sent home for another day off with pay.

But now the hapless Abele has managed to make a bad situation for himself even worse.

It is being reported that Abele is launching a PR move called "Courthouse Proud." The idea was supposedly to recognize the public and private sector workers who toiled day and night to try to get the courthouse operational again.

But Abele has a few problems surrounding what should be a no-brainer thing.

First of all, the design he asked for could be an copyright infringement:

The "Courthouse Proud" logo features four blue upraised fists and forearms as pillars on the courthouse against a red background.

The much publicized and widely reprinted blue fist on "Stand with Wisconsin" posters during the 2011 battle over collective bargaining at the Capitol has just one clenched fist, blue against a red background.

David Eisner, contract administrator for District Council 48 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said the banner and shirts won't sit well with many employees.

Abele is "trying to distract or distort the real issue and make it into kind of a pep rally thing," Eisner said. The courthouse's aging electrical infrastructure should have been maintained better so the fire didn't happen, he said.

"It's a buncha crap, that's what I say," said Eisner.

No cause of the fire has been established yet, according to county officials.

As for the blue fist image: "It is a little different, but it's a blue fist," Eisner said. "Is (Abele) starting a union of his own?" He questioned whether the use of the blue fist for the banner and shirts might infringe on the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations' "Stand with Wisconsin" imagery.

That alone stinks to high heaven. But is always the case when it comes to all things Abele, there's more. There's always more (emphasis mine):

The courthouse fist image was put together by staff at Laughlin Constable in response to a request from Don Tyler, the county's director of administrative services. Both Steve Laughlin and Tyler have served on the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Board.

The design work was done at no charge, said Evan Zeppos, a managing partner at the Laughlin firm.

[...]

The T-shirts were parceled out to those most heavily involved in cleanup efforts, Conway said. A tally of who got the 266 shirts distributed so far included staff from eight county departments, as well as workers from We Energies and two private contractors.

Conway said there were still some left over, but those are "somewhat spoken for," he said.

"You've got to earn it," he said.

In this little blurb, Abele has made a complete mockery of the county's Code of Ethics (Chapter 9).

The Standards of Conduct (Chapter 9.05) make it explicitly clear that no county official or employee can take or give anything of value or solicit for anything of value.

Yet we have Abele sending his Director of Administration to ask for a logo design which he gets free of charge.  Abele then turns around and starts doling out these t-shirts to those who "earn it."

Just about everything about his PR stunt has the potential to be illegal and actionable.

The fire might be out, but it doesn't look like anything is about to cool off anytime soon.

Milwaukee County Courthouse Still A Hot Spot

Two weeks ago, the Milwaukee County Courthouse caught on fire when some faulty and outdated electrical equipment finally failed.  It was learned that Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele knew of the problem, but did not attend to the critical issue because he was too busy buying votes to allow him to usurp control of the county.

Since then we have learned just how screwed up the whole situation was and continues to be.

For instance, we have learned that the fire had been burning for thirty minutes before the fire department was even called:

Up to 30 minutes elapsed between the time fire alarms sounded a week ago for the electrical fire at the Milwaukee County Courthouse and when a 911 call was placed to alert the Fire Department, the Journal Sentinel has learned.

Both the courthouse and adjoining Safety Building were affected by the July 6 fire, which knocked out power and resulted in smoke damage in both buildings. An expensive, around-the-clock cleanup effort has been under way since the fire struck.

The Safety Building reopened Wednesday, but the courthouse will only partially open Monday for the first time in more than a week. Crews were continuing to replace ceiling panels and to clean or replace carpeting throughout the building.

The delay could have made a difference in the amount of damage to the buildings.

Abele's interim facilities management director Gary Waszak said that they were still investigation but that everything appeared to be working as it should.

Somehow, I don't believe that having a fire burning for 30 minutes, with smoke wafting through the halls and the ducts, would connote a system working at all, much less working well.

Cog Dis has also learned that the damage from the fire might be more extensive than what is being reported.  It could be as much as three months before the cleaning work is done and the fried electrical system can be replaced

Workers have also expressed concern over the air quality.  Given the age of the electrical equipment, the coating of the wires might very well have contained PCBs, a highly carcinogenic chemical, which would have been sent into the air and throughout the building via the ducts.

And that does not include the oppressive heat which has sickened deputies and other staffers that have returned to the building.

One of the most ironic things about the fire so far is the extent to which Abele and his defenders will go to try to shift the blame from him.  There has been attempts to share the blame for Abele's negligence on the County Board, while others want to try to shift all the blame on the Board.

The fact is that Abele could have easily addressed the issue of the faulty and outdated systems as soon as he was aware of the issue.  Instead, he decided to devote his time and energy in usurping the power of Milwaukee County.

And that is where the irony comes in.

One of the main excuses Abele used for his power grab was that Board was spending too much time micromanaging activities and staff under his authority.  Now he is trying to blame the fire on the Board by claiming they weren't doing enough micromanaging.

If the gentle reader is shaking their head at Abele's hypocrisy and absurdity, rest assured, you're not the only one.

Abele's Chickens Come Home To Roast

It's closing in on two weeks since a fire hit the Milwaukee County Courthouse.  Although an official cause has been released by Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele, reports indicate that the fire started due to an outdated and out of code electrical system, something which Abele knew about and chose not to address.

The bill for just cleaning up the soot and smoke damage has already hit the $2 million mark, and does not include any further worked needed, such as the replacement of the faulty electrical systems.  It also does not include the time off some workers have gotten, the cost of the two giant generators put in until they fix the electrical system.

Meanwhile, Abele has been pushing to open up as much of the courthouse as he can as fast as he can.  All reports - except the ones from Abele himself - indicate that he is being reckless in his decision making and might be going too fast, especially in this deadly heat wave we are having.

Look at the experiences of Amy Turim, who had to be in the courthouse today:

Speaking of wilting, I spent the afternoon yesterday in the Milwaukee County Courthouse. The conditions at the Courthouse and the lack of organization regarding calendaring trials has me seriously questioning why the County allows the building to be open to the public at all, and why preventative maintenance on the electrical system was not attempted prior to the meltdown.

First, I will describe my experience when I appeared on a matter for my job on Wednesday. This matter was scheduled for the previous week, and cancelled due to the electrical fire that took down the power at the complex. I was notified of the new appearance date by my attorney a mere four hours prior to the time of the hearing, and was able to arrive at the courthouse on time. If my attorney did not see the appointment on the calendar the day before, it would have been possible that we would have missed the appointment. The other party in the hearing was not notified at all. I knew the other party in the hearing, and took it upon myself to notify them of the new date. This type of notification is not practical, advisable or feasible in most instances, and should not be relied upon in a professional court setting.

Some other people waiting for hearings indicated they arrived after calling in to check when their case would be scheduled for. A few others I talked with said they heard to call in based on the advice of friends who saw news stories asking people to inquire via telephone. This is certainly less than ideal, given the serious nature of a lot of the proceedings. The Milwaukee County Courthouse page on the County web site does not mention the closure at all, or what to do when hearings previously scheduled are missed due to such a closure. Milwaukee County’s general website homepage lists basic instructions for closure related issues here, but again, no advice on determining which cases are calendared when. Certainly this is a difficult situation with a lot of moving parts, but Milwaukee County should be doing better at disseminating information to the public.

While waiting in the courtroom, I observed cases being called without parties to the cases present. Those cases were adjourned when parties did not appear within a half hour or so, and scheduled on an alternate day, after proper notifications can be made to all parties. Some of these matters were more time sensitive than others, but even a casual observer could discern that scheduling matters without proper notifications was creating inefficiency. Due to the rescheduling of these matters to a third date when the parties did not appear for this rescheduled time, this also seems to be a waste of money as well.

Speaking of money, the electrical repair is going to be expensive. The first check cut to the renovation company was for two million dollars, and that number is not based on known costs. The insurance deductible for the county is seventy five thousand dollars, and reports in the Journal Sentinel from the County indicate the County believes insurance will cover this matter. However, Milwaukee County has been in receipt of a report from CBRE since February of 2013 that indicated the electrical system was ready to go kaput (in non-technical terms). I am not sure how or if being in receipt of that report will impact the insurance claim, but that question will certainly need to be answered in the coming weeks. Milwaukee County had allocated the funds to secure the facilities report ($450,000 in funds) in 2012, but waited until the end of the year to procure assessment services. Perhaps if the impending issues with the system were reported earlier, repairs could have prevented the chaos we are currently experiencing. Chris Abele would like us to not point fingers and place blame, but at some point these matters have to be addressed or we will be repeating the same failures on all of the other County properties inspected.

The current Courthouse power supply comes from a generator, which means no air-conditioning can run, and it was hot. A few portable cooling units were set up, but they reached the approximate foot radius of the machine. In the cavernous halls of the Courthouse where they were placed, the difference was minimal at best. The Red Cross had volunteers sitting with coolers on a few floors, which were supposed to contain bottled water donated by MillerCoors and cooled with ice from Arctic Glacier. There were also wet washcloths to towel off with. This was a kind gesture on the part of the corporations, but when I arrived at the Courthouse at one in the afternoon, every floor was out of bottles of water, and one volunteer indicated she had been out for over an hour. She was told replacements were on the way. When I left at four, they had not yet arrived. The drinking fountains (okay, bubblers) that I tried were all non-functional. The Journal Sentinel indicated air-conditioned cooling rooms were available to visitors who needed a reprieve from the stifling heat. However, the only “cooling room” that I saw signs for or heard about was a Milwaukee County Transit Bus parked outside the Courthouse, which was running while stationary with the AC on. This mobile “cooling room” was located at least 50 feet from the nearest courthouse entrance, which might has well have been a few miles if you were having a serious issue. Paramedics were on site on the courthouse lawn, in the event they were needed.

Many of the people I encountered were elderly, disabled, or heat intolerant. I suppose at certain temperatures everyone is heat intolerant, but many people indicated medical conditions or medications were to blame for their extreme discomfort. Others told me they refused to use the elevator because people got stuck on it on Monday when the Courthouse first reopened beyond the first floor. They chose instead to try to navigate the staircases with dozens of thick electrical cords running from the generators to the courtrooms. This too struck me as a serious hazard.

Two deputies assigned inside the courthouse became ill from the heat, with one having to go home.

It's almost as if Abele is very anxious to get the courthouse open again so that people might start forgetting that there had even been a fire and the fact that the fire was one which he could have prevented. That is, people might forget, until the bill for all the cleaning and repairs come due.

And he's going to get that courthouse open no matter how many people will have to pay for it!