Broken Air Conditioner Closes Atlantic County Office Building

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ — An Atlantic County office building is closed temporarily after the chiller in its air conditioning system stopped working. A lightning strike during a July 21 storm is believed to have hit it, according to city officials.

“The electrical panels were fried, rendering the air conditioning system useless,” said county executive Dennis Levinson in a statement. “As a result we have temporarily closed the building until a replacement chiller is installed.”

The chiller was delivered on Tuesday, July 27 and should be fully functioning by the end of the week, according to Levinson.

“What’s ironic is that on July 6 the Board of County Commissioners had approved a $2.17 million contract for the replacement of the building’s air conditioning chillers. That work is scheduled to begin in the fall," Levinson said. "When the air conditioning system went down, we were forced to find a temporary chiller to resolve the issue since the permanent replacement was in the process of being ordered. Another 45 days would have made the difference and none of this would have been necessary."

The county is reviewing its options to try to recoup its losses. Officials expect an adjuster will be called in to look at the damage and confirm if lightning was the cause.

“We were prepared to replace the air conditioning system but we were not prepared for an unpreventable lightning strike,” he said. “Although the Atlantic City building is closed, many of its employees are working on site and remotely and all other facilities are operating as normal to provide all essential services.”

Anyone who has appointments to pick up EBT cards at the building can call 609-345-6700, ext. 2353 to schedule a time to pick them up.

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