They united in grief. Now it’s getting ugly
Town leaders fuming over condo probe’s pace
SURFSIDE. Fla. – In the days after the collapse of Champlain Towers South, town, county, state and federal officials worked side by side, focused on recovering victims and providing support to the families of the missing, dead and displaced.
Almost two months later, Surfside officials are livid at the lack of progress to investigate why the 12-story, 136unit oceanfront condominium complex collapsed in the middle of the night June 24, killing 98 people.
Town leaders accused the county and court-appointed property receiver of blocking access to the collapse site and recovered debris, which is stored in offsite warehouses and critical to the town’s investigation. They fear the National Institute of Standards and Technology could compromise some of that evidence.
Almost seven weeks after the collapse, the Surfside Town Commission said Tuesday it is done waiting.
The commission voted unanimously to pursue legal action against Miami-Dade County, the court-appointed receiver for Champlain Towers South and any other entities preventing the town’s hired expert – Allyn Kilsheimer of KCE Structural Engineers – from accessing the collapse site and warehouses.
“We’ve had the preeminent world-class expert on the site since the beginning ready to go, and he’s been shut out,” Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said.
In the course of his investigation, Kilsheimer found that two of nine other buildings he has inspected in Surfside required immediate shoring and bracing, and he recommended those associations hire engineers to complete further assessments.
“We need to know how safe our community is,” Surfside Commissioner Nelly Velasquez said. “We need to know how safe our earth is beneath our feet, and we need to know that as soon as possible.” Burkett agreed. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava “did a marvelous job, and has done and continues to do a marvelous job,” Burkett said. “However, with respect to this very, very narrow issue, I think there is a loss of focus.”
Burkett told The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Network, that the glacial pace of the county to either pursue its own investigation or enable the town to complete its inquiry, could result in tragedy.
“The people that eventually make the decisions on whether to immediately proceed with an investigation as to why the building fell down are the ones that are ultimately going to be responsible if, God forbid, we end up with a catastrophe in our town again,” Burkett said. “And that’s not something I want to be anywhere near.”
When asked why Kilsheimer was not granted access to the debris, Levine Cava’s office referred to her July 29 reply to a letter from Burkett.
She wrote that the county’s process of hiring a forensic engineer to investigate the collapse was “well underway” and that it is “vital that the investigation move forward as speedily as possible while maintaining the integrity of the collapse site and all evidence.”
As such, she concluded, “access to the site has been limited.”
‘They want this to go away’
The county has not hired an engineer. Burkett pointed out that the county did not even put out an online post for the forensic engineer position until July 28 – five weeks after the collapse.
Surfside Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer said she might know why.
“I don’t think anybody wants to hear the truth, because the truth is going to cost them money,” she said at Tuesday night’s meeting. “They want this to go away as fast as possible.”
Salzhauer said the receiver wants to get as much money as possible for the families and the county wants the spotlight off a problem that could devalue properties.
Kilsheimer said the investigation conducted by the Miami-Dade police, in conjunction with the state attorney, is a criminal – not structural – investigation, which is the reason police gave for not allowing Surfside access to the debris. The federal investigation conducted by NIST is focused on policy, not cause, he said.
“NIST is not going to determine why the building fell down,” Kilsheimer said. “They are going to come up with what materials should be used in certain environments, change building codes, make suggestions – like a bureau of standards. They are not forensic collapse experts.”
Residents want answers, he said.
“We, on almost a daily basis, get several phone calls from people that live in that area that want us to talk about if their building is safe, are they safe,” Kilsheimer said.
Levine Cava’s office said it is not the county but the courtappointed receiver for Champlain Towers South – an attorney out of Fort Lauderdale – prohibiting Kilsheimer access to the debris. Her office provided the Post a letter from the receiver dated July 29 saying as much.
That receiver, Michael Goldberg, did not respond to requests from the Post to explain why Kilsheimer should not have access to the collapse site or the stored debris and if or when he has any intention of granting that access.
At a hearing Wednesday morning in Miami, a judge handling the receivership warned Goldberg that no destruction or alteration of evidence will be permitted.
Goldberg said he spoke with NIST official Judith MitraniReiser, co-leader of a team of scientists conducting a preliminary investigation into Surfside, and she stressed that NIST was testing in the least invasive way possible.
Burkett said he is beyond frustrated that NIST is processing evidence without Kilsheimer and that the county is not investigating the cause of the collapse.
He offered to release Kilsheimer from his contract with Surfside or assign that contract over to the county so an investigation can move forward expeditiously but said the county has not accepted that offer.
“We all just want to find out why the building fell,” Burkett said. “We don’t need Surfside to do the investigation; we just need an investigation to be done quickly.”
‘Rolling the dice’
Kilsheimer, a 64-year veteran of building collapse investigations, has investigated about 30 to 40 collapses, he said, including the Pentagon after 9/11, the Florida International University bridge collapse in 2018 and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. He’s been involved in probes around the world, including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
He said inspecting the south tower debris is critical to determining not only why it fell but whether the “sister” building – Champlain Towers North – is safe for occupancy.
“Who’s willing to roll the dice on the lives of those people in that building? And if you are not focusing on that as your No. 1 concern, I would submit you are rolling the dice on their lives,” Burkett said.
NIST has said its investigation could take years.
Kilsheimer said if given access to the debris, he could conclude his inquiry in “months.”
“I don’t understand why, whoever is really trying to understand why this building fell down, can’t go with the team we have or somebody equal to that team,” he said. “They have a reason. Why? I don’t know.”
“We’ve had the preeminent world-class expert on the site since the beginning ready to go, and he’s been shut out.” Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett