DALLAS — The water is gone from the Dallas County Records building but on Tuesday it was revealed the damage is going to cost the county a good chunk of change.
After a broken city water main flooded the building on Memorial Day night, the county is still assessing the damage and the cost.
And workers from various county departments, including the Tax Assessor-Collector’s office and County Clerk, won’t return until June 28.
With electrical panels in the basement of the Records Building dating to the 1920s, the county's not shocked at the cost of repairs and clean up, which so far is $10 million.
“You can't find those switching gears and all. We're going to have to, you know, replace a lot of them and that water just ravages everything," said county commissioner John Wiley Price
Water from the break covered the basement with six feet of water, inundating the panels.
As workers replace the electrical system, the county learned insurance will cover most of the damage.
But taxpayers are on the hook for a $1 million deductible.
County commissioners decided to pay it from a fund for new buildings and remodeling and couldn't say how it might affect current projects.
Meanwhile, Price blamed a court majority for deleting a committee that looked into computer issues, including a backup system. “We said it two years ago. We stand by that all. Our reports say that," he said.
But the commissioners who dissolved the committee say it didn't move quickly after a consultant in 2008 concluded the county needed a backup system.
Commissioner, Maurine Dickey, voted to end the committee. “However, it had been a year and a half since that meeting, since that consultant's report and things had not changed," she said.
Regardless, commissioners didn't arrange for a backup system in case of disaster and county computers went down for much of last week.
With the lack of foresight obvious they all seem eager to move on.
Commissioners hired a consultant to form a plan for a computer back up and review the county's entire information technology needs.
E-mail: bwatson@wfaa.com
