By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

Workers and frequent visitors at Fayetteville City Hall have been having a long, hot summer... literally.

Heat in the summer and cold in the winter have plagued City Hall ever since the city took over the former Glynn Street Elementary School and renovated it to house city offices in 1995.

The city filed a lawsuit to recover the cost of the heating/air-conditioning unit installed at that time, and currently is in mediation with the architects and design engineers who installed it.

Hearings with a mediator next month will be aimed at finding a settlement so the case doesn't have to go to court.

“It's our contention that it was grossly undersized and poorly designed,” said city manager Mike Bryant.

“We've had problems up here for years,” said Bryant. He joined the city earlier this year, so he has only heard about problems from prior years, but word is that the environment has been very uncomfortable, he added. “They burn up in summer and freeze in winter,” he said.

“We certainly hope they reimburse us for everything,” Bryant said.

But that could take awhile. In the meantime, City Council approved a contract with Powers Heating and Air-conditioning to install a new system back in the spring, but that has taken “longer than anticipated,” Bryant said.

New units had to be ordered, and delivery took longer than expected.

Now that the units are in place, last minute adjustments are underway and workers are hoping they can soon put away the giant fans that have hummed in the City Hall hallways all summer.

It has been hotter than ever during the installation process. “We've been seeing 96 and 97 degrees inside the building for weeks,” said Bryant.

But recently, the new system has begun to operation and it has been cooler, and officials hope the final bugs will be worked out and the new system running at full efficiency soon, said city engineer Don Easterbrook.

“It takes awhile for the building to cool down and get all the ambient moisture out,” said Easterbrook. “But I think we're about there.”

There's some question about whether water pumps installed with the new units are large enough, he said, but added that's a minor problem. “It's a tough test when it's 99 degrees outside,” he said. “We may have to change out the pumps, but that's not a big thing at all.”

With any luck, City Hall should soon be cool, quiet and comfortable, he said.