By: Diane Benjamin
On March 10, 2019 a fire DESTROYED a building at Lake Building that housed a lot of equipment and records. The media never reported it. Evidently a massive loss to government isn’t news.
I only found out about the fire when replacing two pieces of equipment appeared on the April 22nd Agenda: https://blnnews.com/2019/04/19/monday-merriment-for-bloomington/
This week I received a FOIA request for documents. The number of documents is extensive, I won’t know the total loss until I wade through them.
The good news is the City did have insurance according to this email:
A summary report of the fire investigation shows this:
See the full report here: Hudson 3-10-2019 Summary Report
I have a lot more work to do and it will include tracking what the insurance companies paid. A lot of staff time was involved compiling information and replacing what was lost. The City was smart to set up new accounts in their accounting program for all receipts and expenses.
It appears from the email below a personnel issue was at least discussed – Nicole Albertson is the HR Director. The City properly redacted the content.
Hudson report said undetermined. What city files were destroyed ? Was there a report filed by the State Fire Marshall’s Office ? Some one should ask the Mayor. It was City property.
I still have lots of questions and at least 1 missing document. It was completely destroyed so finding the cause is difficult. A safe was even destroyed.