MVMS to be transformed into law office
by Jake Krob · June 18, 2008

A law firm comprising nearly 40 attorneys and as many support staffers was to begin operating in Mount Vernon this week after being displaced by floodwaters in Cedar Rapids.

“We are so grateful for Mount Vernon,” said Paul Morf, a member of the Mount Vernon School Board, MVHS alum and resident of the school district.

Morf is an attorney for Simmons Perrine, a law firm with a main office in the upper stories of the U.S. Bank building in downtown Cedar Rapids. He and four other attorneys with the firm, including his father Darrell, as well as the firm’s office manager, all reside in Mount Vernon. They were to begin operating out of the Mount Vernon Middle School off Palisades Road Wednesday, June 18.

Wednesday, June 11, as floodwaters threatened downtown Cedar Rapids, the bank building where Simmons Perrine operates was evacuated. The firm began contacting possible sites for relocation.

Mount Vernon School District Superintendent Jeff Schwiebert said the firm called him about using space here. He said the district jumped at the chance to help Mount Vernon’s neighboring community of Cedar Rapids and offered space in the middle school.

The law firm, which Schwiebert said could have between 50 and 75 people operating out of the middle school, needed a T1 line for technology connection. The middle school has that.

There was a snag, however, in the fact that the Grant Wood Area Education Association (AEA) was without power earlier this week. Servers used by Mount Vernon Schools are housed by Grant Wood AEA, which was flooded in Cedar Rapids. Power at the AEA was expected to return this week, thus restoring the local school district’s Internet service.

Simmons Perrine plans to take over much of the west wing of the school, including classrooms that they can use to secure files and equipment. The law firm was able to access its downtown Cedar Rapids office Saturday, for only 20 minutes, to retrieve some materials and bring them here.

Schwiebert said the law firm will cover any expenses it incurs while operating out of the middle school. Simmons Perrine staff aren’t sure when they will be able to return to their downtown Cedar Rapids office. (They also have an office in Iowa City that remained operational this week).

But they are sure of one thing: They have to be out of the middle school here by Aug. 15. School starts Aug. 19.