Batavia police investigating vandalism, trespassing at city hall

Batavia police are trying to solve two mysteries, both of which happened in their own building Dec. 7.

Who threw a plywood Christmas decoration through a glass door and into the city council chamber in the Batavia Government Center?

And who was the man wandering around locked areas of the building in the middle of the night?

Detective Sgt. Shawn Mazza said police haven’t determined if the two events are related.

The Christmas decoration likely came from a display near the building, at 100 N. Island Ave., he said. The area around the hall and the Riverwalk is decorated annually for the holidays.

Batavia Crime Stoppers has posted a video on its Facebook page, of the man walking through several areas of the building at 3:30 a.m., including the southern lobby near the council chamber and the lobby to the city offices on the second floor.

The second-floor lobby is not secure. It can be reached by an open stairwell from the lobby of the police department, which is always open, on the north end of the building. But the southern half of the building, which houses the council chamber and city offices, is behind locked doors during nonbusiness hours.

It wasn’t always the case. The city installed the doors last year because of worries about people roaming the building after business hours. In a November 2012 memo, the city administrator noted that homeless people had taken to staying in the building late at night.

The building also houses a community theater troupe. It performed a family-oriented Christmas-themed play there at 7:30 p.m. that night.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at (630) 454-2500.