With the starting date approaching for the Triangle Cultural Center repairs, city leaders continue to search for air conditioning units that were removed from the local center by a prior contractor.
The Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved the purchase of two new units at the cost of $12,350 from Yazoo Heating and Sheet Metal this week so that the center will have some cooling with approaching events scheduled to be held in the building.
Mayor David Starling said repairs to the south wall of the Triangle are scheduled to begin on July 18.
“Did we ever get any clarity of the five units,” asked Alderman Jammie McCoy.
Starling said he received a written response from the prior contractor who was involved with a prior project under the past city administration.
“Supposedly they were scrapped and were not any good,” Starling replied. “They were not functional, according to the person who took them away. I think he said they were taken off. We have had this discussion, and there was actually no clarity on it.”
However, the prior contractor said there were only two units removed from the center at the time of the previous project.
But Alderwoman Elizabeth Thomas said she has photographs that show five units.
“Pictures speak louder than words,” Thomas said.
The photographs provided by Thomas show five units along the south wall of the Triangle and a large framing, which were enclosed around the units.
McCoy said the disposal of any city property should be handled by the city, not contractors.
“Shouldn’t there been a procedure instead of just trashing them,” McCoy asked. “It is one thing if they are in our possession, and we dispose of them.”
“But if an auditor comes in and says there are five, where are they,” Thomas asked. “We have no record stating that we disposed of them properly.”
“(The units) have been gone for almost a year,” replied Starling. “It could have been something the previous administration had worked out. We just inherited this situation.”
The city council said they intend to have board attorney Lilli Evans-Bass pursue the matter moving forward.
Thomas voted in favor of purchasing the two new units, but she said she had some reservations in installing the units before the July repair project. She said she is concerned if the new contractor finds any additional problems with the building that the new units would have to removed and reinstalled with additional labor and costs.
However, the city board moved forward with installing the new units in light of upcoming events scheduled to be held at the Triangle.
