Norman residents who are holding their breath, waiting for the city's mold-ridden central library to reopen, might as well exhale because it could be years before the city's $39 million amenity comes back to life.
Shut down in November 2023 because of chronic water leaks and a mold infestation, the library at 103 W Acres St. still sits empty, dark and locked behind a chain-link fence.
The city's attempt to remediate the problem last spring failed and so has its effort to reach a financial settlement from companies that designed and built the 82,000-square-foot building that opened in 2019.
The city filed civil action in Cleveland County District Court last fall, and Norman City Attorney Rick Knighton appears to be hunkered down for a long, slow walk through the litigation process, hoping to reach an eventual settlement. And he says the dollar amount needed to fully compensate taxpayers for repairs has not been established.
Repairs and remediation will be substantial, according to officials. The work would include deconstruction of multiple portions of the building's roof and façade, which would require removal of large sections of metal and glass to identify water infiltration points throughout the structure.
According to its civil petition filed last October, the city is seeking compensation from Oklahoma-based construction company, Flintco LLC, and Oklahoma-based design and project management firm ADG P.C. The filing also names Minnesota-based architectural firm MSR Design as a defendant in the case.
The city is seeking actual, compensatory, consensual and punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial, according to the court filing. None of the defendants have responded to requests for comment on the matter.
The timeline for civil litigation isn't always clear as cases weave through stages, such as discovery, claims, motions, judgements and appeals, Knighton says.
"I have a case currently pending right now that was filed in 2012 and it's been appealed three times for various reasons," Knighton said. "Obviously, I think that is an extreme example, and I don't anticipate this taking that long, but again, it is just difficult to predict how long it's going to take the case to work its way through the system."
Meanwhile, the crown jewel of a citywide, $200 million Norman Forward quality-of-life initiative will remain a prominent source of frustration on West Acres Street, right across from the historic Andrews Park and a block away from City Hall.
"We are certainly mourning the loss," said Kelly Sitzman, director of marketing and communications for the Pioneer Library System, which was responsible for operating the library before health concerns over toxic mold blooms forced it to close.
To help compensate library patrons for the lost facility, she says the multi-county library management system has opened a library lab about a mile south, where there is access to children's programming and other patron services. Pioneer also is investing more than a quarter million dollars to installing 24-hour library kiosk machines outside City Hall and at Reaves Park in South Norman.
The large vending machines provide access to a variety of materials ranging from books to videos and movies, she said. Patrons can use them to browse the collection, pick up materials that have been reserved or drop off materials through the use of a library card. And it's open 24 hours, seven days a week.
"We're trying our best to not interrupt services, although I know nothing is quite the same as having that building open," she said.
Regardless of Pioneer's effort to compensate, Sitzman said patrons are looking forward to when the central library can reopen.
"We are just hopeful, and looking for the process to move forward, and hope that that can move along quickly," she said. "I know everybody is very antsy to get that resolved and make some headway in that direction."
City Attorney Knighton says the case is complicated and only in the early stages of discovery when defendants are evaluating evidence. The defendants are asking for information, and the city is providing documentation, he said. Three weeks ago, the city moved a large document into a Dropbox folder. The file was so big that the upload took eight hours to complete.
"That's the volume of documents we're talking about that are related to this particular project," he said. "As it relates to these three defendants, there's a lot of stuff to go through, so it's going to take them a little bit of time to go through to get an idea as to how they want to move forward in terms of trying to get it resolved."
There is no doubt who the victim is in this case, Knighton says, so it's just a matter of the defendants figuring out what the problem with the building is, who's responsible and how it's going to get taken care of.
But it's too early to tell what their ultimate response will be, he said.
"There may be some opportunities to see if we can come to some agreement that resolves the issue without having to go to trial, but we fully intend to make sure that the taxpayers are made whole with regard to this particular building, and that's what we've been pursuing."