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.

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