Report on In-Person Evaluation of Site-D83 Regarding Property, Structural Integrity, and Continued Viability

Evaluation Personnel

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Evaluator: Warren Hall

Assistant Evaluators: Daniel Barnett, Eve Winters

In-Person Evaluation Performed on ██-██-████

Background

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Photograph of Site-D83 shortly after its opening in the late seventies.

For any personnel not familiar with Site-D83, of which it can be assumed there are quite a few, the site is a small property in Northern Wisconsin that the Authority acquired in the late seventies. It would seem the site was established by the Authority as an auxiliary property to larger sites in the area, built as part of an effort to heavily investigate a string of anomalies in the American Midwest. In its most active era the site was used mostly as an administrative office, its main utilities being file storage and the containment of several minimal Alpha-class anomalies.

Records have indicated that over time as the Authority shifted focus to more pressing issues, personnel were repeatedly reassigned away from Site-D83 without being replaced. This practice continued throughout the nineties, and by the turn of the century Site-D83 had an abysmally low number of assigned personnel. By 2002 the property had become effectively abandoned. Their focus being reserved for larger issues, it would seem the Presidium overlooked this error, and in fact its existence was only recently brought the attention of Financial Affairs thanks to audits done in lieu of the fund reallocation situation in 2021.

As such, and considering this has happened a number of times now, I was requisitioned by the Office of Financial Affairs to travel to and evaluate the current state of Site-D83 and give a report on the property's financial viability. Said report as well as related images and documents are attached, professional verdict can be found on page three.


In-Person Evaluation Report

Façade and Above Ground Foyer

My colleagues and I arrived at the property in the guise of HVAC repair personnel at 9:00 am. The outer portions of the property were intact, and looked to be structurally sound. It is likely that the façade was the section maintained by Authority infrastructure the longest before its abandonment. However it was also clear that the outer structure had not been renovated or updated since its construction.

Documents indicated that the only personnel remaining on-site consisted of a rotation of front desk security and night guards, indeed when we arrived there was a guard at the front desk. He was sleeping while listening to a small shortwave radio. Upon questioning it was revealed to us that the on-site security were not affiliated with any division and were in fact employees of ██████ Security, a third party subcontractor the Authority had acquired for Site-D83. I will leave it up to the OFA Auditors and Ethics Review Board whether this was a sound decision on the Authority's part.

The main foyer of Site-D83's aboveground façade had suffered to a certain extent from its period of neglect. Aside from being largely empty, the amount of dust and discoloration of the drywall imply the area has not been cleaned since 2002. This is unsurprising, as the Maintenance Union workers were likely reassigned off-property in early 1998 following the resolution of the 1997 Union strike that hit many NORTHCOM sites after █████████.

Elevator and Central Atrium

The foyer elevator leading down into the site's central atrium was in a dangerous state, disuse and rusting having done lasting damage to its machinery. If it were a possibility that anyone would be using the elevator I would deem it a danger to employee health. Its cables appeared to have been frayed and the lift mechanism had not been lubricated in decades leading to quite bit of shuddering and grinding. Seeing as it was the same Otis Elevonic 101 model elevator installed during construction roughly around 1978, if the Presidium should decide to renovate and continue use of the property, replacing and reinstalling the foyer elevator should be its first priority.

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State of Site-D83's central atrium.

Upon arrival in the site's atrium, a number of issues became immediately clear to my colleagues and I. The common problem with the property is structural degradation stemming from an extended period of negligence. This is clear in all areas of Site-D83, and the atrium is no exception. Dust and debris littered the floor, no doubt having accumulated from the drywall and insulation that have been slowly falling apart. While the Authority's unwitting payments for power and climate control have kept total decay at bay, said climate control system has not been repaired since the abandonment and as such mildew, mold, and other infestations have taken root thanks to the now moisture-heavy air. Termites and cockroaches have also made their way in from the surrounding soil, likely through cracks in the concrete outer shell that no one had been around to repair. Termite damage was visible in a number of wooden structures and in the atrium especially where the decorative plant life had been eaten though quite thoroughly. Also of note is that several windows were broken in the atrium, which was odd given no one had been down there in decades. In fact, as you'll see many areas of the property showed signs of vandalism or ransacking, which should not be possible given access to any area below the façade is highly restricted.

We are left to assume these acts were committed by the last of the on-site personnel prior to their reassignment. The likelihood of this explanation I will leave to the Office of Human Resources investigators.

Main Structure (Offices and Containment Areas)

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One of the office hallways in Site-D83.

When my colleagues and I split up to survey the main offices of Site-D83, we found that each anomaly contained on site remained essentially in their default state for decades. It is worth noting that most, if not all, objects contained on site were assigned Registered Phenomena Codes now occupied by different anomalies. For instance a display case contained an Aztec Sacrificial knife labeled "RPC-749", a painting of a ship labeled "RPC-831", among others. While it is evident that this was likely reassigned out of convenience, how exactly it managed to remain unknown to the Presidium at large remains mystifying to me. See the Site manifest for more details on contained anomalies.

The main offices suffered from the same issues of neglect present in the rest of Site-D83, however the termite issue here appeared to be exacerbated, likely due to these sections containing far more woodwork in their construction than the rest of the property. The more pedestrian construction had also contributed to a mold infestation brought on by moist air, and even water damage to some areas where pipes had likely cracked and started leaking over time. The file storage wings sustained a majority of the deterioration, despite being properly stored in steel cabinets many of the on-site files had been destroyed either by water damage or by insect infestation.

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A number of file storage units in one of the offices.

Of the remaining undamaged files or those with an acceptable amount of damage, my colleagues and I managed to catalog as many as we could on the site's manifest. Many were Administration records, financial statements, and other bureaucratic records. Another quantity of the stored documents were containment and description files for registered anomalies, likely stored at Site-D83 for the purpose of faxing to the proper locations when required. My team and I found that a portion of the fax machines still had some documents in them, and I remain perplexed as to why they weren't returned to their files.

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Another of the office halls. (Captured by Eve Winters.)

A number of the files that were destroyed related to ongoing investigations the site staff were engaged with before being reassigned to larger cases. Several instances including the spontaneous growth of a house in Oneida County in 1979, the disappearance of a Diane Straits in 1984, and the patterned crop burnings of 1982 had a number of files missing, either from destruction due to exposure or to what was most likely mismanagement stemming from a lack of staff present. Once again, you can reference the manifest for a full list of documents recovered by the evaluation team.

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One of the smaller labs in Site-D83.

To end this section on a positive note, I would like to commend the state of the small number of experimentation labs Site-D83 had to offer. Due to the strict safety regulations regarding these areas they had been preserved in a unique state of cleanliness for the property. Even some janitorial equipment was found in a couple of them, left over by the Maintenance Union personnel before their reassignment. Dust and other viscera had accumulated over time, but my team and I found these relatively minimal. While a small detail, I'm sure Research personnel will be glad to know their regulations have some use.

Basement Levels

Surprisingly the maintenance levels remained unscathed through the decades of neglect, likely because of their more robust construction and the use of industrial materials in their construction. As previously stated, the pipework on site had suffered from oxidization and erosion over the years from the amount of fluid and pressurized air within. Cracks in the pipes had caused several water heaters to be drained, and dripping pipes have shorted a number of electrical breakers, which made evaluated sections of the basement difficult as the lights had been affected by the shorting.

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One of the hallways on the storage level B3. (Captured by Daniel Barnett.)

Dust was unsurprisingly abundant. Given this is a feature common to basements in any structure, we felt it a non-issue compared to a much more pressing problem permeating lower levels of this site: rats. They had taken up residence in every single orifice that my colleagues and I found in the basements. It is possible they entered the facility through cracks in the foundation, though it would be a bit unorthodox to find rats this deep. In any case, the rats' excrement littered most of the basement halls and their presence was overall greatly detrimental to whatever cleanliness may have remained on these levels.

The storage level, despite an accelerated level of rust on the metalwork, seemed to have remained in good condition when we inspected it. Each locker remained unopened, and there was no structural degradation or damage to the lockers themselves from what we observed. Due to the breaker shortage there were some lighting issues which made it difficult to see at certain points but we did manage to inspect the contents of some of the lockers. My colleagues and I were rather appalled at what we found.

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"RPC-655" found in locker 11-G.

It would seem that the containment standards had severely degraded by the time Site-D83 had been fully abandoned. My colleagues and I found that on the basement storage level several anomalous objects had been haphazardly "contained" in the storage lockers, alongside chairs, tables, and stationery. I'm sure you understand why this flagrant disregard for any kind of containment regulation was quite appalling. When we first opened up locker 11-G to find, just sitting on a cabinet with several boxes of junk mind you, a humanoid creature preserved in a container labeled "RPC-655" we were appalled as well (see pictured). I'm unsure how this happened, but I put it to the Regional Director of Containment to explain how a travesty like this is allowed to occur at an Authority Site.

There was another odd occurrence which I'm more regretful to relay here, but must. While evaluating the lowest basement level B6, one of my assistants alerted me that he had found a staircase on one wall, a descending one. As there wasn't a staircase marked there on any blueprints, nor any levels below B6 on any manifest I was understandably perplexed at this. I value professionalism above all else, this was something I could not overlook. I made the call for my colleagues and I to enter the staircase and see what was below. With hindsight, its clear I should have called it in and requested MST assistance as we were not armed, but at the time there was no indication of any undue circumstance. Since my evaluation of those areas are not covered under my assignment to inspect the recorded Site-D83 property, they will be detailed in a separate section, attached following my verdict.


Conclusion

Given the state the site was in, any kind of renovation would be at great cost. As I'm sure you are presently aware, the Authority's financial situation is rather precarious as-is." The cost needed to make Site-D83 safe at a minimum is, I believe, not worth it. All anomalies contained on-site are minor enough to be relocated without much effort, and the files stored are far too outdated to be of any use to the Authority at large. For these reasons, my professional opinion would be to demolish the site and sell the property for whatever meager sum it will go for.


Verdict: DEMOLITION




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