“We continue to operate,” Chavarria said. City officials say that is not the case at all. Rumors are flying, with some speculating that building permits will be delayed and water bills won’t be sent out. Mary Fertig, far left, objected to the meeting being held at all, requesting a two-week deferral that was rejected by the board. ![]() The Planning and Zoning Board meets at City Hall on April 19, one week after a storm dumped 26 inches of rain on Fort Lauderdale. The commission plans to knock down the building and move to temporary offices until a new City Hall can be built. The eight-story building is now on “life support” after floodwaters breached the basement and ruined key mechanical and electrical equipment, Chavarria said. But no one was allowed into the lobby or on any other floors.Ĭhavarria said it would likely be the last public meeting held in City Hall. Fort Lauderdale did host a Planning and Zoning meeting in commission chambers on the ground floor of City Hall on April 19. With City Hall closed, commission meetings were held on Zoom on April 18. That’s because the system has been stabilized and is requiring less fuel, Chavarria said.įor the most part, Fort Lauderdale has not let commissioners or city employees back into the building since the rainstorm hit on April 12. On Monday, Doussard said it was taking 1,000 to 1,100 gallons of fuel per day to power City Hall 24 hours at a time. “And we need to move out equipment and protect what’s in there right now.” “We need to keep the building from deteriorating,” Chavarria said. At the time, he said it would take 150 gallons of diesel fuel an hour - or 3,600 gallons - to power the generators needed to power the entire eight-story building. Last week, Chavarria told the Sun Sentinel paying for the diesel gas to fuel the generators needed to keep the lights on was one of the biggest costs. He said it likely would be the last public meeting ever held at City Hall. The servers have been compromised.”Ĭity Manager Greg Chavarria on April 19 explains why the commission chambers were reopened that night to hold a planning board meeting. “Right now we’re focused on finding alternative space because the building is considered uninhabitable. “We will apply for federal funding to finance a new City Hall,” the mayor said. Mayor Dean Trantalis says he and the city manager plan to leave on Thursday for Washington, D.C. Maybe they know what song they have to sing to get the feds to pay for a new City Hall.” But they made the decision in 30 minutes. “Who figured out those numbers? It’s so laughable. I’m hoping someone didn’t pull that number out of a hat or somewhere else.”Ībby Laughlin, a local activist and longtime resident, says the proof is in the pudding. “When something is off the cuff like this, I’m just trying to absorb it. ![]() “But I’m going to ask for that,” he said. Glassman say he has no cost breakdown and nothing in writing to back up the estimates shared last week. “If there was a slide show, you can imagine I would have torn it apart,” Herbst said. In responding to a request from the Sun Sentinel, a city spokeswoman provided a list of services procured, but did not include the estimated cost.Ĭommissioner John Herbst, who spent 16 years as the city’s auditor, said he didn’t think to ask for a cost breakdown last week, but he plans to now.īoth men noted that the topic was not listed on the April 18 commission conference agenda, but came under discussion in the wake of the April 12 storm that dumped 26 inches of rain on the city. “As soon as we get the invoices, we will know the details.” “We asked Ashbritt for the rough order of magnitude ,” he said.
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