Terra cotta on Milwaukee's City Hall inspected once again

MILWAUKEE -- A third investigative inspection of the terra cotta on Milwaukee’s City Hall is now underway. The inspection is necessary because problems with the terra cotta on the building.

This inspection is being coordinated by a consultant contracted by the Department of Public Works (DPW)

Crews are using a 100-foot crane and starting on the west side of City Hall. That work began Monday morning and is expected to last five to seven days. Some street closures and restricted access will be necessary during this inspection process.

The city of Milwaukee filed a lawsuit for damages related to a project that was done on City Hall. Officials say a piece from a terra cotta unit fell from the building to the street in February 2011.

"We feel the city is not at fault in any way because we had many people that were on contract to make sure this was done correctly," said Mayor Tom Barrett Monday.

The lawsuit names the general contractor, J.P. Cullen & Sons, Inc., which released the following statement: "J.P. Cullen & Sons, Inc. will defend itself in the lawsuit filed (May 4th) by the City of Milwaukee over damaged terra cotta on City Hall. Cullen`s own investigation into cracks in some of the terra cotta reveals that the company installed all terra cotta units according to the plans and specifications for the project."

Mayor Barrett says his goal is not to have the city taxpayers pay anything for this because no one with the city did anything wrong in this matter. "This was something that there are many, many other individuals and firms and businesses that put this terra cotta in and clearly, there was something wrong with the terra cotta," Barrett said.

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