Clogged roof drain dumps water into City Hall offices
It all started with a wayward soft drink cup.
During last weekend’s thunderstorms, the cup in question landed somehow on the roof of City Hall. It ended up blocking the drain and pooling the water on the building’s roof.
The amount of water and the buildup of pressure caused problems, and when a cleaning crew entered City Hall Sunday afternoon, there was water, water everywhere.
Well, maybe not everywhere. However, the offices of Clerk-Treasurer Tami Runyon and her staff and Mayor John Whicker were inundated, as were some areas on the building’s second floor.
Apparently, when the cup was removed from the drain, the water went out with a significant “whoosh” sound.
As a result, Runyon’s office is closed for the time being with all employees working from home. Whicker’s office is out of service and he’s been setting up in the meeting room across the hall where the city’s Board of Public Works and Safety meets.
Some of the offices on the east side of the second floor were also affected, but aren’t affecting operations. Whicker says that the area used by Ginny Vogel, who heads up the Court Appointed Special Advocates program for Wells County courts, avoided major problems. While water got into the office area used by Doug Sundling, the city’s consultant for infrastructure and planning, Whicker said the maps stored in that office were not damaged.
No documents were rendered unusable by water, the mayor said, but some of them do need to dry out for a while.
Water rose up around a bookcase in Whicker’s office, but a filing cabinet did its job and protected what was inside of it. “The inside was dry,” he said as he provided a tour of the damaged first-floor areas Wednesday afternoon.
The Bluffton Parks and Recreation Department had some equipment stored in affected second-floor areas. They were collected earlier this week and are bagged along the back wall of the Common Council Chambers on the second floor.
Protechs Restoration is working on removing the water, as three large dehumidifiers — one in Whicker’s office, one in Runyon’s office, and one in the upstairs area — are drawing water into 55-gallon containers.
“You can feel the humidity in here,” Whicker said as he surveyed his office Wednesday afternoon.
Whicker said an insurance adjuster looked over the damage Wednesday morning. No timetable has yet been set for the water to be removed and the offices to be reoccupied.
daves@news-banner.com
