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STATE TO TRY TO RECOUP $140,000 FOR FAILED DOOR SYSTEM AT CAPITOL

June 15, 2000

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

As workers prepare to take out the failed automatic door system at the state Capitol, Secretary of State Jesse White said Wednesday that his office will try to recoup the more than $140,000 spent on the project.

At an appearance in Springfield, White said the state's agreement with contractors will let it get back what it spent on a yearlong project to replace old heavy glass doors with those equipped with automatic openers on the Capitol's first floor.

"We are going to recover ... every dollar that has been spent on those doors," White said.

White's office announced last week that the automated system was being scrapped after a year of trial and error on the $228,000 project.

The automatic doors were installed last year but have frequently malfunctioned, occasionally trapping visitors and state workers inside and often letting frigid winter air into the rotunda. White's office blamed the Capitol's large dome, which acts as a vacuum that sucks in outside air.

Workers have placed handles on the doors, and patrons will have to manually push them open as early as next week.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/metro/chicago/printedition/article/0,2669,SAV-0006150146,FF.html

-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), June 16, 2000