The City currently has Armor Screen material that is used to protect the window and door openings at the City Hall and Library buildings during hurricanes. Installation of the Armor Screen material is extremely time consuming and labor intensive as opposed to other hurricane protection options. The latest deployment of Armor Screen during the 2016 hurricane season took approximately 15 Public Works employees one and half days to complete. Given the amount of time and labor required to setup Armor Screen as well as the inability to determine its effectiveness during storms, the City would be better served using an accordion shutter option for hurricane protection of the City Hall and Library buildings.
Accordian shutters will require less staff to prepare for a storm and will potentially be much more effective than Armor Screen. Time saved by using accordion shutters is time that could be used by Public Works to provide other hurricane preparedness services.