City halts work on new fire station

By Staff
Staff Reports Madison County Record
Engineers have found structural flaws in the design of Fire Station 3 on County Line Road – prompting a temporary halt in its construction and forcing the Madison City Council to terminate its agreement with the architectural firm who designed the building and the proposed Madison Police Department expansion at City Hall.
At a special called meeting of the city council last week, council members approved a resolution terminating an agreement with Mouzon &Associates for architectural services.
According to Susan Klopfenstein, construction contracts manager for the city of Madison, structural flaws found in the building forced a temporary halt in its construction that was to be completed this month.
The resolution reads that it has been determined that Mouzon &Associates has failed substantially to perform under the contract in several particulars; specifically, by failing to maintain a current license to practice architecture in Alabama and for failing to provide complete structural review for to correct defects in Fire Station 3 as requested by Klopfenstein.
Mouzon &Associates is the same architectural firm that designed two new fire stations for the city of Scottsboro and a new city hall facility that collapsed late last year while concrete was being poured for the second level floor.
Both fire stations in Scottsboro are still under construction, but construction of the new city hall facility has not resumed. The two fire stations in Scottsboro are of similar design to Fire Station 3 in Madison and similar in design to the new fire stations recently built in the cities of Guntersville and Albertville -also designed by Mouzon &Associates.
Curtis Davis, director of the community development department for the city of Scottsboro, said its city council terminated its agreement with Mouzon &Associates after structural flaws were found in the two fire stations. Davis said the city hired an engineer to inspect the buildings – who in turn found structural flaws in its design.
Rick Wheeler, budget finance director for the city of Scottsboro, said litigation is now under way between the city's attorney's and attorney's representing Mouzon &Associates and the builder.