Water line leak damages Geneva city hall

"That floor looks awfully shiny."

Chuck Lencioni, building commissioner for the city of Geneva, had just rounded a bend in a back stairwell and was on the landing, en route to his office on the second floor of city hall to finish up a little work, when he noticed something was off.

Instead of catching up, a new task made the top of his list: cleaning up city hall. A water line break in the second-floor employee break room flooded that room with several inches of water. The water also pooled in the hallway and poured into offices below.

Damage is estimated at $25,000 so far.

The leak, from a water line to the icemaker in a refrigerator, sprung between 7 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday.

The carpeting, ceiling tiles, drywall, some furniture and computers in the human resources department have to be replaced. Documents were sent out to be freeze-dried to minimize damage. Big dehumidifiers were brought in to suck up remaining moisture.

The city spent $103,000 in 2007 to remodel the second floor of city hall, including creating the break room.

Normally, Lencioni might have used the exterior stairs at the James Street entrance to get to his office, because his office is right at that entrance.

But the James entrance is closed because the stairs were removed and are being rebuilt.