Davenport set to spend millions in collapsed building costs

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) - Bills are beginning to pile up for the city of Davenport in the wake of the building collapse.

In the first few weeks since the building fell, the city has been billed for $500,000 from demolition companies, an architecture firm, the landfill and first responders, but overall costs will be in the millions of dollars.

TV6 Investigates used public records laws to obtain city invoices incurred since the disaster.

These first costs represent only a fraction of what the collapse will end up costing taxpayers.

Architectural firm Shive Hattery sent a bill for $75,000.

And the city is spending about $50,000 to reimburse a special first responders team.

The city of Davenport hired a public relations firm that offers “crisis communications and reputation management services.” The city has paid that firm $18,000.

More major expenditures are yet to come.

Future expenses will include bills from two firms leading the city’s investigations. These firms have only provided estimated hourly costs – up to $490 an hour and these figures also don’t include attorney fees.

KWQC’s records request did not return any documents related to legal bills, despite the city being named in five civil suits.

The city council is expected to set aside $3 million, Wednesday, to deal with more costs related to the collapse. Almost half of which will go toward continued costs for demolition.