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Bullock County commissioners debate legal review and new contractor after courthouse elevator failures
Summary
Commissioners and attendees described repeated elevator breakdowns at the Bullock County Courthouse, raised safety concerns including people falling on stairs, discussed potential legal action related to the maintenance contract with Team Elevator, and several speakers recommended hiring TK Elevator; no formal vote was taken.
Bullock County commissioners and members of the public discussed repeated failures of the courthouse elevator, safety risks to courthouse users and staff, and possible legal and contracting steps during a county commission meeting.
Speakers said the elevator is the primary safe access to the courthouse second floor, where the circuit clerk, the district attorney’s office and judges have offices, and argued the county must resolve long-standing problems. “We’ve got to do something for our citizens, whereas they’ve fallen down the steps,” a resident said.
The discussion centered on three issues: the elevator’s ongoing mechanical problems, the county’s maintenance contract with Team Elevator, and whether to pursue a legal review of that contract. One attendee recommended an executive session to address contract and legal options. “If you want to discuss maybe getting out of that contract, then I suggest we go to an executive session to discuss a legal issue,” an attendee said.
Several speakers described operational failures and maintenance practices they called unacceptable. One person described repeated breakdowns over “3 or 4 years” and said technicians often rely on remote guidance rather than local troubleshooting. Another speaker criticized a repair practice of reusing leaked hydraulic fluid: “If they’re taking the fluid that has leaked out, that fluid is now contaminated. It’s dirt. They’re introducing it back into the system…When you put it back in there, it’s contaminating your whole system.”
A number of speakers said they do not trust the current vendor’s track record. “I don’t have any trust in Team Elevator and their track record of what they’ve done,” an attendee said. Several attendees urged the county to put a new service agreement in place with TK Elevator; one suggested proceeding with TK Elevator for service while the county’s attorney examines the Team Elevator contract for legal remedies.
No formal motions or votes were recorded in the transcript. Commissioners and attendees discussed options and next steps, including scheduling an executive session for legal review and exploring a new maintenance agreement; the transcript does not record a formal decision to enter executive session or to award a new contract.
Clarifying details raised during the discussion included the elevator’s role as the “only good access” to the second floor court offices, reports of people falling on stairs when the elevator is out of service, a multi-year pattern of failures, technicians calling for remote troubleshooting from other states, concerns about contaminated hydraulic fluid being returned to the elevator system, and the existence of an active maintenance contract with Team Elevator. One attendee also described partial payment or billing issues, saying work “is not half paid until it come.”
The commission did not record a timeline for any contract change or legal action in the transcript. Speakers said the matter needs resolution and that the county attorney should review contractual remedies; a date for follow-up or a formal vote was not specified.
