Town Hall's East Wing 'Back To Normal' After Flood

SOUTHOLD, NY — The east wing of Southold Town Hall is up and running in record time, after damage sustained when a frozen fire suppression system and a burst pipe sparked a flood in the building during January's icy temps.

During a town board meeting in early February, Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said the damage was "pretty substantial, more than sheet rock and carpet." But, the supervisor said, town staffers worked diligently to allow for a "smooth transition," taking an active role and working day and night to relocate offices, computer equipment, with the assessor's office most impacted by the flood damage. Work was done in just over two weeks, he said.

Russell said he wanted to thank all involved and said the east side of the building was now "back to normal" and has been, for almost three weeks. He thanked Southold Town Director of Public Works Jeff Standish, the entire DPW staff, Kevin Webster, Claire Glew and the staff of the assessors office, as well as Southold Town Network and Systems Administrator Lloyd Reisenberg, network and systems specialist Zac Thomaszewski, Lauren Standish, Michelle Thomaszewski of the supervisor's office, and the company, Belfor Property Restoration, "that did the work so quickly."

After the flood Russell said, of the damage, "The clean-up will be a large task." He reported damage behind office walls, as well as the need to remove trim and portions of walls. The rugs, ceiling, and insulation all needed to be removed.

In addition, Russell said, work was being done to identify areas where there was a need to replace pipes. File cabinets were relocated to the conference room after the flood, too, he said.

Reisenberg surveyed all of the IT computer equipment.

Southold Town Hall was closed for one day due to the frozen fire suppression system that caused the flooding, Russell said.

"We had about 2 inches of water on the floor and since it came from the fire suppression system located over the ceiling, we had damage in the ceiling, with tiles becoming waterlogged and falling," he said.

At a recent Southold town board work session, Reisenberg said the town lost about $5,000 worth of equipment, not including the copier. The color printer, he said, also needed to be replaced.

Standish also showed the board a diagram of where the water damage was located in the building, and where sheet rock and ceilings were being replaced and insulation and electric work was done.

He added that the goal was to find a solution so the pipe would not burst again, perhaps by moving the pipe further away from the elements in the attic, where it was currently located, with no insulation.

Standish assured the piping is inspected twice yearly. In the instance of the recent flood, he said the pipe had broken in a thin area. "Things fail, unfortunately," he said.

Patch courtesy photos.