Town Hall repairs continue after burst pipe, meetings remain at community center
Repairs to the Southold Town Hall meeting room remain underway after a pipe burst last month — forcing Town Board and Justice Court meetings to temporarily relocate to the Peconic Community Center.
A pipe burst above the Town Hall meeting room Monday, Feb. 9, at around 3:30 p.m., causing about a third of the ceiling to come down, Supervisor Al Krupski said. The room, which houses Town Justice Court proceedings on Wednesdays and Fridays and hosts other town meetings, was vacant at the time, he added.
Southold Town Department of Public Works staff quickly acted to clean up the room following the burst. Other town staff rushed to the records cellar below the meeting room to make sure paper copies of town documents were minimally damaged.
“We were fortunate that day most of the water was shooting outside, and plus we were there,” Mr. Krupski told The Suffolk Times. “The immediate reaction after turning the water off was to go downstairs and try to move boxes around. Because we moved stuff around right away, it minimized any more damage to anything.”
Many town records are remotely backed up to the town’s servers in addition to the paper copies, he added.
“We have less damage than we could have,” Mr. Krupski said.
Mr. Krupski said the DPW has met with the town’s insurance company to determine how much of the damages is covered and evaluate whether outside help would need to be brought for the extensive fixes.
Necessary repairs include the meeting hall ceiling, meeting hall rug and records cellar ceiling. Mr. Krupski added that the DPW will have to see if there is any damage to the meeting room floor that needs repair.
The upcoming Town Board meeting set for March 10 are scheduled to be held at Peconic Community Center as repairs to the meeting room get sorted.
“We’ve been working with the rec department and the Justice Court and every department that uses the space, and we’ve been making it work,” Mr. Krupski said. “Everyone’s been very cooperative.”
