A forensic engineer flew a drone over The Howard County Courthouse in downtown Fayette last week to examine water damage that occurred in May.

Water entered the northwest tower of the 137-year-old building during heavy rainstorms on May 20, causing damage to ceiling tiles and sheetrock in the juvenile officer’s second-floor office, and the office of Judge Mason Gebhardt on the floor below. In addition, an area of the outer brick wall has become bowed between two windows on the west side of the first floor. The county hired Servpro, a water restoration company, which spent 10 days retracting water out of the wall.

Howard County Presiding Commissioner Jerimiah Johnmeyer said the county’s insurance company and its adjusters required the county to work with an engineering firm to determine the exact cause of the damage. 

“It’s been a long process,” he said.

Johnmeyer said a roofer has examined the top of the tower and determined that wind had lifted up a section of the rubber roof coating which allowed rain to enter the structure. That section has been repaired, at least temporarily, with caulk, which held off further water damage from the torrential storms that dumped more than a foot of rain on Fayette in June.

“Luckily it has held through all this rain that we just got,” Johnmeyer said.

It is expected the damage will be able to be cleaned up and the tower restored. Johnmeyer said some roofing repairs will likely need to be made. The county does have some funds available as part of its infrastructure budget. It is not yet known if the entire slate roof will need to be repaired or replaced. Any roof repairs will now take precedence over other rehabilitations. Commissioners had planned to repair sidewalks. But should extensive repairs be necessary for the roof, lifts will need to be used which will likely cause damage to the grounds.

“We don’t want to repair the sidewalks and then have fresh damage,” Johnmeyer said. “We’re going to start from the top and work our way down.”

The wall that surrounds the courthouse is also in need of repair in several areas where tree roots have pushed blocks outward.

Western District Commissioner Mat Freese said that because of the cost of repairing the courthouse, which was constructed in 1884, only simple repairs and patches have been made throughout the decades. “It’s just about caught up with us. The building is just so old.”

Keller basement floods

The courthouse is not the only county building to incur damage during the abnormally wet spring. Heavy rains in late June caused significant flooding in the basement of the Keller Building. Storms caused several interruptions to the city’s electrical service, one of which lasted nearly nine hours. Because of the power outages, the sump pump in the building’s basement could not run, allowing floodwaters to saturate.

“Probably the most aggravating is the flood in the Keller Building,” Johnmeyer said. “If we had power, that wouldn’t have happened.”

Approximately five inches of standing water had accumulated in the basement. The county also hired Servpro to repair the water damage there.

In addition to frequent power interruptions, Johnmeyer said that because the building reached a peak demand in October, the county has been saddled with an extra charge of $2,700 per month. The charge will continue for one year. All utilities, including electricity, are included in rent charged for office space in the building.

“The way I understand it, that demand charge is supposed to go through the city and improve the city electrical system. Why isn’t that being done? Why are we out of power all the time,” he asked.