Downtown Kansas City courthouse heats up as air conditioning problems force changes

Looking like tentacles from a giant octopus, white plastic tubes climb the south side of the Jackson County Courthouse.

On Tuesday, the sun beat down on the art deco tower in downtown Kansas City as the high temperature neared 90. Chilled air from the tubing spilled into the ventilation system serving the middle six floors of the 11-story building, as it has most days this month from a temporary air conditioning system.

Conditions inside were fairly comfortable on those levels, where the 16th Circuit Court of Jackson County does its business.

“It’s been OK so far,” Judge David Byrn said as he rode one of the building’s three new elevators.

But it was somewhat warmer on the floors above and below, and is expected to be even less tolerable as highs are forecast in the 90s this week. That will force some offices to close early this week and some workers will work remotely.

It was hot Tuesday morning inside the suite of offices that County Executive Frank White and his top aides share on the second floor when White’s secretary, Miriam Hennosy, got to work.

“The sun hits this side of the building first thing in the morning,” Hennosy explained.

By noon, it was a bit more tolerable, the cooler air from above having by then fallen down the stairwells and into the lower floors.

Still, across the hall from White’s offices, an aide in the county’s clerk’s office checked the thermometer on her desk. It was 79 and beginning to rise as the sun beat down on that side of the building.

The courthouse that former President Harry S.Truman commissioned in the 1930s when he was the county’s chief executive was a climatological marvel for its time. Except for the now-mothballed jail above the 11th floor, it was fully air conditioned at a time when many public buildings were not.

But decades of decay and lack of proper maintenance forced the county to shut down the air conditioning system while repairs are made this month. A temporary system was brought in to keep the courts running, but White and the county legislature decided it was too costly to cool the whole building with even more of those air conditioning units thrumming in the south parking lot.

Everyone else in the building must cope somehow. Fans everywhere. On the ceilings and on the floors.

Many members of Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker’s staff on the 10th and 11th floors are working remotely when the temperatures climb.

Michael Mansur, Baker’s spokesman, wasn’t one of them Tuesday.

“Could be worse, and probably will be,” said Mansur, his shirt collar open and tanned forehead shiny with a slight sheen of sweat.

For the first time in the 10 years he’s occupied it, Mansur’s west-facing office window was open and a warm breeze stirred the air.

Two floors below, the sun was beginning to beat down on Vince Ortega through the window of his office in the southwest corner of the 9th floor.

A former Kansas City cop who heads the agency that administers the county’s anti-drug tax known as COMBAT, Ortega was getting ready to tell his staff that they should work from home that afternoon.

But first he had some shopping to do. You know those portable air conditioning units that roll on the floor?

“I was just checking into ordering some right now,” Ortega said.

Some county employees who work directly with the public every day haven’t had the option of working from home since returning from a year of remote work. Many of them are located on the first floor, where the only cool air is what flows down the staircases from the floors above.

At Monday’s regular meeting of the county legislature, member Jalen Anderson expressed sympathy for those folks and pressed County Administrator Troy Schulte to make special accommodations for county workers who, like Anderson, an asthma sufferer, might have a physical condition that make it difficult for them to take the heat.

But Schulte said he was committed to keeping the courthouse operating at full speed after returning from the COVID-19 shutdown.

“If individual folks have issues because of health, ongoing issues, that’s why we provide sick leave,” he said.

Anderson said he didn’t think it was fair that employees might have to use up their sick leave because the county can’t provide them with a cool place to work in the middle of June, when outdoor temperatures in Kansas City are typically in the 80s and 90s.

“I understand your position on this,” Anderson replied. “But I would really encourage that you re-evaluate this.”

He said it wasn’t an employee’s fault if he or she had to go home “because of a health issue, because we don’t have air conditioning.”

On Tuesday afternoon, White’s administration sent courthouse employees an email saying that all were free to work remotely during the hot spell and that the collection and assessment departments on the first floor, which deal directly with the public, will be shut down each afternoon at 1 for the rest of the week.

Schulte also issued a statement saying that department directors had been authorized to use their discretion in when to send workers home:

“In the event a director determines a work area has become too warm to comfortably work, they are encouraged to allow staff to work remotely, such as another county building or from home. Only in situations when a workspace becomes too warm to comfortably work, and a staff member does not want to work remotely, will the staff member be required to utilize their accrued personal time for the time they are not working.”

The good news: After a successful pressure test of the building’s cooling system a few days ago, it looks like the building will be fully air conditioned by the end of the month, White’s Chief of Staff Caleb Clifford told The Star.