County working on temporary fix during Elyria parking garage repairs

ELYRIA — County officials are working to find temporary parking solutions starting next month while more than $3 million in repairs is done on the Administration Building parking garage in downtown Elyria. County Commissioners awarded RAM Construction Services of Broadview Heights a contract worth more than $3.18 million in October to repair the four-story parking garage at the County Administration Building at 226 Middle Ave. County Administrator Jim Cordes said Wednesday the work is scheduled to begin March 16, when county employees will be asked to vacate the parking deck. An estimated 150 to 200 temporary parking spots will be required while the work is done, he said. Also Wednesday, commissioners entered a lease agreement worth $2,100 with the Elyria Women's Club at 218 East Ave. in Elyria for the use of 35 parking spaces for four months starting March 1. The money will be paid in four monthly installments of $525 each. The leased parking is a start, he said, and that the county plans to encourage ride-sharing among employees, fill the parking lot at the county Transportation & Community Center off East Broad Street and possibly the Lorain County Port Authority complex on South Abbe Road. "We're using everything we have" as options for additional parking and shuttle service by Lorain County Transit, he said. The county considered renting parking spaces at the Midway Mall, but balked at the $9,000 to $12,000 price tag, Cordes said. The parking garage was built in 1972 and has 425 spaces. A replacement garage with 600 spaces would cost the county an estimated $20 million to $30 million and could take 18 months to two-and-a-half years to build, Cordes said. Maintenance on the garage was put off in leaner fiscal years following the Great Recession. Cordes said the county will be lucky to get another six or seven years use out of the structure before it needs replaced. Now, commissioners have to consider the liability of having a crumbling garage where a buildup of ice and snow could cause employees or visitors to slip and fall and where cars already have been damaged by falling debris, Commissioner Sharon Sweda said. "We have no option but to get this done as quickly as possible," she said. Commissioner Matt Lundy said the board will ask county employees and the public to "cooperate and exercise patience with a capital P and a capital C." In other business Commissioners wished Lorain County Sheriff's Office K-9 Maggie a happy retirement. Maggie, a Malinois, retired Jan. 17 after eight years on the job and will go to live out her days at the home of her human partner, Corrections Sgt. Mike Mettler. Maggie, who was assigned to the Lorain County Jail, was "one of the best dogs we ever had," Sheriff Phil Stammitti said. Mettler said he was lucky to work with both Maggie and his former K-9 partner, Kasper. The Sheriff's Office has three dogs on road patrol and three assigned to the jail. Mettler said having the dogs on duty deters inmates from being violent with corrections officers and keeps workers compensation claims from inmate assaults lower as a result. In 16 years, only three people have been bitten by the working dogs at the Lorain County Jail, Mettler and Stammitti said — two inmates and one unfortunate maintenance worker. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.