Oregon Public Broadcasting

Officials with Marion County and Salem’s transit agency have settled with two companies believed to be responsible for construction problems at a public building.

Cracks appeared in a Marion County courthouse building within a few years of its completion in 2000. It was part of a $34 million project.

Dave Henderson with Marion County says attorneys supported settling a dispute with the building’s architects and contractors for about $1.8 million.

Henderson says the county doesn’t know exactly what repairs will cost – but he says it’ll be more than the settlement amount.

Dave Henderson: “At the cost estimates we were looking at were significantly lower than what we are anticipating now. The best advice that we got from our outside counsel, and the outside counsel that the transit district had, was that it was in the best interest of the taxpayer and all the parties to go ahead and settle.”

Marion County and the Salem-Keizer Transit District are still in discussions with the engineering firm implicated in the damaged building.

Workers will be out of the building within three months, though officials haven’t found space yet to move all of them.

Officials don’t know how soon the damaged building can be re-occupied.