Imagine going to work inside of office building every day and fighting off rats, raccoons and even a snake. This is what some city employees in Lorain have been dealing with for the past 15 years.
"It’s so old and decaying that mice get in, at one time a snake got in there are department cats that roam and kill the mice," said the City of Lorain's Mayor Chase Ritenauer.
Mayor Ritenauer is talking about the building on E. 35th and Broadway Avenue that houses the city's garage, and the parks and streets departments.
"There was holes in the walls from termites, you seen raccoon prints on the walls, they were coming from holes in the ceiling," said City Councilman Angel Arroyo Jr.
Arroyo Jr. took a tour of the building that's now also infested with termites on Monday.
"They showed us a basement with two or three feet of water, a boiler that’s not working anymore, I’ve seen mold, I’ve seen decaying ceilings, he said.
But next year things could be looking up for the 30 employees who have to work there everyday.
"Thankfully we’re in a finial position where we do have some capacity and we are going to be able to borrow go out to the bond market to be able to fix this thing," said Mayor Ritenauer.
The city plans to break ground on a new building sometime next year. The project is expected to cost 6.5 million dollars.
