Pike County Commission Vice Chairman Robin Sullivan spoke to the Pike County Women’s Republican Club about the current status of the Pike County Judicial Complex. 

Sullivan told the club the complex had 96 water pumps in the building’s HVAC system. He said during the snowfall event in late January, a valve with hot water was left in the off position. He said this caused five seals to break on different floors of the building. He said, in effect, the building flooded from the top down. 

During the initial clean-up of the building, he said multiple employees reported symptoms from a cough and rashes to what appeared to be chemical burns. He said several county offices, including the Pike County Sheriff’s Office and Pike County Circuit Clerk’s Office, had relocated to the Pike County Courthouse temporarily.

Sullivan said the commission had three different environmental safety inspections done. He said all three reports indicated the building was safe to use. He said the commission was waiting on written reports, which would be presented to the elected officials this week. He said those officials would then make a decision on returning to the judicial complex. 

Sullivan said he estimated it would take another two to four weeks before the judicial complex returned to normal operations.

Sullivan said the commission recently hired a new maintenance employee that would be responsible for maintaining the building to prevent future problems. Sullivan said the commission did an extensive search for an employee with experience in maintaining large buildings. He said the new employee had experience in building maintenance for Troy University and would begin work for the county on March 10. 

In addition, Sullivan told the club the county spent $42 million on the judicial complex and had paid about $19 million so far. He said the county was on track to pay off the remaining $23 million by 2030. After that, Sullivan said the tax enacted to build the facility would remain in place to pay for additional employees and maintenance. He said a big part of the expense was in the new county jail. Sullivan said the jail facility was much larger and needed additional employees to work the facility. He said the old jail had a budget of about $650,000-$700,000 per year. The new facility has a $2.7 million budget.