by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Workspace: City Building Engineer Mike Tatum
Over the course of 24 years, Mike Tatum has seen just about everything that can happen to a building happen. Knock on wood, the County Courthouse hasn’t caught on fire, but Tatum — the building engineer for the Courthouse and three other City buildings — and his staff have responded to everything from AC problems to serious floods.
“I have been in this building since day 1,” said Tatum, who also oversees every maintenance aspect of the Yates Building, the Courthouse Annex and The Florida Theatre.
Tatum says technically he isn’t on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but it’s close.
“You might as well say that. They (night staff) will call me at home and I have guys I can call,” he said, adding there’s no way to determine how many after-hours calls he has gotten over the years. “Nothing breaks between 8 and 5. The fire alarm never goes off during the day.”
The building’s issues are well-documented and publicized. In a little over two years the new $350 million Courthouse will open and Tatum is looking forward to it. That price tag is light years from the $8 million it cost to build the current facility in 1953. And, despite its problems, Tatum says the current courthouse is structurally sound.
“When they put this in in 1953, it was definitely a different lifetime,” said Tatum who was recently recognized for the work he did when a pipe burst, causing major damage to a couple of floors. “They took pride in what they did and that’s why this building is still around. To just drill a hole through the floor is a major job.”
He said a typical day consists of seemingly endless phone calls and e-mail messages. Tatum says he can still fix virtually anything that could go wrong, but with four buildings and a staff of 12, the job has changed.
“A majority of my day is spent doing paperwork and getting supplies and records up-to-date,” he said. “I can still work on things. I guarantee you there is stuff in this building that only I know about. There is stuff in this building I don’t know about and I have been here 24 years.”
Tatum is both old enough to retire and has enough years with the City to hang it up. But, the lure of working in a brand new building is strong.
“I have been told, when it’s built, I am the one going over,” he said. “They send me pictures every day, so I know how it’s being built. I want to see what the new building is like.”
Tatum said he can’t imagine not working and still enjoys his job and coworkers.
“If you do something for 24 years, it’s just part of you,” he said. “Coming to the Courthouse is part of me. I love the people I work with. They are the best part of the job. We work as a family.”
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