JACKSONVILLE, Fla.-- On Monday, a group of Jacksonville's big wigs crammed into a construction site portable to talk about Jacksonville's new $350 million courthouse that no one can use.
This weekend, the new Duval County Courthouse failed not one--but two critical fire safety tests.
"The reality is the system as it sits currently does not work the way it's supposed to," said Fire Chief Martin Senterfitt.
Senterfitt said the failure rate was not minor and because of that the fire department will not issue any sort of certificate of occupancy.
"You could actually have a fire on the first floor and kill people on the 7th floor and we can't tolerate that. It has to be a safe building," Senterfitt said.
They have no timeline on how long it will take to fix the problems at the new courthouse. So, on Monday they proposed "Plan C." That plan would mean moving back into the old courthouse on Bay Street.
"With an uncertain timeline, we feel like there's an obligation to move forward to return to the old courthouse," said Public Works Director Jim Robinson.
The goal is to be back into the old courthouse in 7 days. But, it isn't ready. City officials say it needs a thorough cleaning, rental furniture, and pest control to fix the rat infestation.
Action News reached out to find out who is covering these costs but got no answers.
The proposed solution didn't sit well with many at the meeting. "We are concerned that this is only a stopgap measure that won't get to the wind of the problem as to why this happened," said prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda.
Action News also got no answers on whose decision it was to move out of the old building to begin with.
"We'll get through it. As they say, someday this will just be a bad memory," said Judge Donald Moran.
The Director of the Jail says something must be done soon. He says they will begin to see a major backlog within a week.
Jury trials have been canceled for this week.
