Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Leak floods city hall

Insurance adjustors are expected to offer up estimates this week regarding the amount of water damage to the Prescott City Hall building and contents.

According to Prescott City Manager Billy House, a broken water fitting in an upstairs restroom caused significant damage in the downstairs portion of city hall and cleanup is going to be extensive.

House said a city employee discovered the problem on the morning of Sept. 26 when he arrived at work. Water was reportedly flowing out the front door of the building, city employees say.

House said the employee then called Prescott Water Department Manager Perry Nelson, who located the leak. According to House, the problem was a broken plastic water fitting on a commode upstairs. The water caused little damage in the upstairs portion of the building, but flooded the first floor of the building.

The majority of the damage seems to have occurred in the front office where billing for the city's water and electric departments take place.

The ceiling tiles in that portion of the building were soaked, and the wet tiles fell onto the desks and equipment below. House said the equipment in that room was damaged, but it appears that little electronic equipment was completely lost.

House said the city's computers - containing billing information for city electric and water companies - were sent to Texarkana for recovery, and that the process was successful. He said no information was lost because of the incident.

Phones, copiers and adding machines were also soaked, though House said there appears to be little permanent damage.

Papers that got wet have been taken upstairs and spread out to dry, House said. He said the damage upstairs is minimal and that the paperwork survived the ordeal.

A clean up company has been called in. As of Wednesday, the majority of the ceiling tiles had been picked up and fans were scattered throughout the lower floor of city hall in an attempt to speed the drying process.

Meanwhile, House said city hall is open for business, though patrons are being directed to the second door along the street, rather than the entrance to the lobby normally used.