WATERBURY — Considerable work remains to be done to restore the basic infrastructure at the 700,000-square-foot Waterbury state office complex after flooding three months ago.
But substantial progress has been made on the stabilization effort that will cost $20million to $25 million, according to Tom Sandretto, deputy commissioner of Buildings and General Services.
Sandretto said cleaning up and restoring basic services to the complex, which was flooded by the Winooski River on Aug. 28 in tropical storm Irene, has proved to be a “huge job… it’s gigantic.”
State officials have said they expect to be reimbursed by insurance and FEMA funds for repairs to the complex, which was inundated with soiled and polluted water. The latest spreadsheet from Sandretto’s office indicates costs of $17.6 million so far, but he said those are “ballpark figures,” and the final tally will depend on an audit of invoices and expenses.
Sandretto said under procedures for emergency circumstances such as the Aug. 28 flooding, the contracts for restoring the complex were made without the usual bidding process. Instead, all expenditures by the contractors working on the site will be audited by the insurance companies that will reimburse the state and have a “vested interest” in making sure the work was accurately documented, according to Sandretto.
The electrical system has been restored. Of the four heating boilers at the complex, only two have been fixed and the other two, including the woodchip boiler, still must be repaired, he said.
The state is heating the complex and running five dehumidifier units to drive moisture out of the interior, he said. Repairs to the alarm and sprinkler systems are under way. Fourteen of the 15 elevators in the complex are not functioning.
State officials have said it will be at least six months to a year before any workers move back to the complex.
The long-term future of the facility is up in the air because of its location in a floodplain and the potential costs of restoring the red-brick historic buildings, some of which are over a century old.
