If its only functioning public elevator stops working, Oklahoma County Courthouse may temporarily close

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — With just one public elevator still working inside the Oklahoma County Courthouse following water damage, county officials say the building, and quite a few important county offices, are hanging on by a thread from being temporarily shut down.

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires at least one functioning elevator in a multi-story public building like the courthouse. If the last elevator breaks down, officials say it could grind county government to a halt.

About four weeks ago, a county official said a contractor renovating a courtroom on the eighth floor accidentally triggered a sprinkler head.

“It went for a considerable amount of time before they were able to find the valve that shut that particular sprinkler head off,” said Oklahoma County District 2 Commissioner Brian Maughan.

Water soaked several floors and leaked into the elevator shafts.

“About 45 minutes' worth of water dumped inside the elevator shafts, which short-circuited everything out,” Maughan said.

Since then, all but one public elevator have been out of commission.

One additional elevator is still functioning—but only for transporting jail inmates to and from court.

“The wait time on an elevator can be as long as 20 minutes,” Maughan said.

He said the disruption has made for chaotic days as judges, lawyers, plaintiffs, and defendants all try to make it to court on time.

“A lot of people are confused,” Maughan said. “They’re getting on the elevator going the wrong way because there’s only one elevator that’s responding to both the up and the down button. But we also have a lot of times when the inmate traffic is considerable, and sometimes they need to commandeer [a public elevator] in order to be sure the inmates are getting back and forth. And they’re not allowed to put regular civilians with the inmates.”

Even Maughan, whose office is on an upper floor, has had to adapt.

“Well, I’m able to climb the stairs. It’s not my finest thing to do, but I can do it if I have to,” he said.

If the last elevator also breaks down, Maughan said it would grind courthouse business to a halt.

“The ADA Act would force the building to be closed, which means all court dates, all motions, or whatever would have to be either reassigned to be held elsewhere,” he said. “People forget about all the disputes that are settled in court, not only criminally, but civilly. And sometimes it’s a matter of just getting divorces done or getting a settlement on a trust. You know, if you’re waiting on someone who’s passed away, they know how to proceed with their estate planning. It can be a number of things that just affect everyday lives.”

Maughan said he has reason to be concerned about the remaining elevator.

“[It’s] not designed to handle this kind of volume at this kind of number of people who are getting on,” he said. “I was on one day last week with 19 people total. That is way over… Last week, temporarily, that car did go down. And so then the only operating elevator we had for the end of one day last week was the jail elevator. And so they had to make it work. And it was terribly inconvenient, and we had to try to kind of get the courthouse wrapped up for that day's affairs so that we can comply with ADA Act.”

That’s why this week, despite not knowing yet whether insurance will reimburse them, county commissioners voted to use emergency funds to get the other elevators fixed.

Maughan said he and other commissioners are hoping to have the remaining elevators repaired by the time jury trials resume from summer recess next month.

“It is really expensive if court operations have to grind to a halt,” he said.

But ultimately, it’s a tight race against time that won’t be easy.
“It’s a nationally, historically preserved building on the national registry, so it has to be done historically accurate,” Maughan said. “Most of these parts, we’re having to search around the world and find them in different countries to bring in. And there’s a delay. And we’re mix-matching the parts to see if we can find what the ultimate combination is to get them to work again.”