Morganti Blames Rusting Casino Hardware on the City

It's clear from last night's city commission meeting that no one has any idea what's happening with the new casino building at the beach or even what's been done up to now.

The pool was not part of the casino and beach project??  No.

The city was supposed to be maintaining the building starting in May??  Yes, maybe.

Who on the city staff is responsible for overseeing construction of the new building?  Silence.

The city commission met last night with representatives from Morganti, the general contractor, asked to appear to answer questions about the punch list of items to be completed before businesses can open at the casino next week.

But the big questions were along the lines of: What the heck is happening with all of the hardware on the building that is already either rusted over or corroded, and why is the new wood floor in the ballroom buckling?

Unbelievably, Morganti tried to blame the city for the hardware rusting, saying the city was notified that it was supposed to be maintaining the building. What maintaining? Are they saying the hardware needs a rub-down every evening?? There were no follow-up questions to determine what was meant by maintaining hardware and instead the discussion went down the road of trying to determine when the city was notified and by what means that it was responsible for maintaining the building once it was found to be "substantially complete" in May.

But Morganti and subcontractor REG also mentioned that the hardware purchased, including these rusted and corroded door handles and hinges seen on Lynn Anderson's blog, might have been defective, though they indicated they would be loathe to complain to the manufacturer(!) They also pointed to the $6 million dollar price tag on the building, indicating that a lower-quality product may have been used to bring the total cost of rebuilding the casino under the $6-million-dollar mark.

Nonsense. This hardware is junk, and it never should have been used under any circumstances. If the city needed to keep the project at $6 million, the building should have been made smaller. It is monstrous, not to mention incongruous, with a large Greco-Roman yellow building with an arcade reminiscent of Rome's Colosseum... and attached to it a hulking, two-story, Penicillin-pink structure, angular and modern and totally out of place here. The pink part should be lopped off immediately, with its pieces sold for scrap or on Craigslist and the money raised used to buy beautiful hardware to affix the doors to the building. Humans have known how to make quality hardware since the time of Christ. (No, wait, lots longer.) There's no excuse for using something so horridly cheap.

This is what we bought?? The new casino building, seen from the back, is monstrous and stylistically confused.

But back to the city of Lake Worth,... it was revealed at last night's meeting what a tremendous price is being paid for the rapid turnover of elected officials and city staff over recent years. Almost everyone involved in the original discussions about the construction of the new casino is now gone. We have a different mayor, different city manager and, for the most part, different staff overseeing the project.

William Waters, who oversees the building department, is one of the only staff members still around who was here when decisions about the building were being made.

At one point last night, a commissioner asked the city manager, Michael Bornstein, who on the staff is charged with overseeing the project. There was a long pause. Bornstein then mentioned a Ms. Margolis, who had just been mentioned by either Morganti or REG, who'd said something about her background in construction in Broward County.

"I dismissed her, and named a management team that I thought met all the requirements," said Bornstein. He didn't name the person who heads that team.

So, the elected representatives don't know who on the city staff is overseeing this project? They should be told, pronto. They need to know.

It is unclear and unknown who chose the hardware for the building. Morganti/REG said the hardware on the building was "selected according to 'standard of care' and according to the budget"and made a mention of consulting with "designers" to "come up with more suitable materials."

What designers? What manufacturers are going to be considered now? Is Morganti going to insist on American-made, or is Lake Worth going to get an only slightly less cheap Chinese-made product the second time around? These questions need to be answered.

Another point of serious concern is the wood floor in the ballroom, which is to be rented out for proms, weddings, reunions, lavish private parties, you name it, to bring in revenue for the city. Morganti says that water got into the building during Tropical Storm Isaac and sat on the floor for some time, causing it to buckle,... but that they're monitoring the floor's moisture content and hoping all will be just fine in the end.

The commissioners were dubious, with Mayor Pam Triolo saying she saw the floor buckling during a walk-through before Isaac, the outer bands of which hit Lake Worth on August 26 and 27, and Commissioner Andy Amoroso saying that the floor, in his opinion, should be replaced.

But all three commissioners present (McVoy and Mulvehill were both absent) seemed reluctant to press the contractor, with Triolo softening her questions with: "You're the experts."

Maybe. But it's our money, and our building.