Drainage flaws plague ESC

Design flaws at the year-old Emergency

Services Center in Whitefish were brought to light at the City

Council’s May 31 work session. Whitefish Municipal Judge Bradley

Johnson noted in a memo to the council that “the building has had

some major mechanical problems.” Bradley cited issues with the

heating and air circulation, with water leaks both into and out of

the complex, and with the building’s drainage system.

The $5.3 million, 32,656-square-foot

building opened in June of 2010 and houses the police and fire

departments and municipal court. Swank Enterprises of Kalispell led

the construction effort, and Grover + Company out of Missoula

worked on the design.

The most critical flaw, Johnson notes,

is with the building’s drainage. When snow melts from the heated

roof, water pours onto the sidewalk and flows into the parking lot

creating “dangerous conditions.”

The outside parking lot accumulated and

held surface ice for most of the winter,” Johnson noted.

“Many people have fallen in the parking

lot,” he said. “Winter walking on the parking lot surfaces and

especially on the sidewalks is treacherous.

“It’s a tort claim awaiting an

appropriate plaintiff.”

Public Works director John Wilson

agreed that there are some “shortcomings with the drainage

design.”

“Some drainage didn’t direct water to

the best places,” he said.

Drainage issues have also led to water

breaching some walls in the court offices. Water seeped in after

ice build-up led to ponding outside of the offices. Ponding also

allowed water to drain into an electrical conduit leading into the

court room. Water then dripped through the court’s ceiling and

damage some ceiling tiles.

Ponding was also to blame for cracked

concrete at the building’s entrance. The excess water shoved up a

portion of the sidewalk at the entry, deeming the front door

unusable. That section of concrete was removed and replaced with

plywood.

Grover + Company has been working on a

remedy for the drainage flaws, Wilson said.

“I didn’t get any excuses from [Grover

+ Company] when we walked around the building,” Wilson said.

Councilors were concerned about who

will foot the bill to fix the drainage.

“Those should all be the responsibility

of the contractor or designer,” councilor Bill Kahle said.

Wilson expects Grover + Company will

take care of the work at no charge.

Ventilation issues cited by Johnson are

related to smells that waft from one department to another.

Cleaning solvent fumes circulate through the air, Johnson said,

“and have caused a minor disruption during a jury trial.” Cooking

smells have also been noted to move freely within the ESC.

Fire Chief Tom Kennelly said the

cleaning smells were from the fire department using too strong of a

Pine-Sol concentrate when cleaning their quarters. The department

has addressed the issue by using a less potent cleaner. The court

has learned to ventilate the offices when the fumes become too

concentrated.

A leak in the ceiling above the

complex’s computer server room was a cause of concern due to the

amount of high-tech equipment being stored in the area. The water

was coming in from an area where the fire department dries out its

wet equipment. A special membrane will be used to prevent further

leaks.

It was also noted at the work session

that seven small heating radiator units in the ceiling ruptured

during a deep freeze last winter causing damage to alarm equipment

and ceiling tiles. The problem was traced back to a malfunction in

the master radiator. Swank Enterprises addressed the issue.

Both the fire department and court have

cited problems with the heating system and electric space heaters

are being used until the design defect is resolved.