Penn's Capitol Flood Damage Repaired

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Capitol repairs cost almost $2 million

Bills stem from burst water pipes in 1999

Sunday, January 20, 2002

By Mark Shade

Of www.capitolwire.com

The Valentine's Day Capitol flood of 1999 was bad enough for state officials

before they got the repair bills totaling $2 million.

" It was a big nightmare for everybody, really, " said Ruthann Hubbert-Kemper,

executive director of the Capitol Preservation Committee.

Those summoned to the Capitol to find rooms were flooded remember that

morning.

The flooding was discovered by a Capitol policeman who was patrolling the

Rotunda's first floor when he felt water dripping on his head. A search of

the Senate Rules Committee Room found the culprit: broken water pipes

leading to a new air-conditioning unit that had recently been installed for

the Senate Gallery.

" The water damaged the murals in that room. Water was just running through

the chandeliers, soaked the carpet and ran through the floor, "

Hubbert-Kemper said.

There was so much water, engineers estimated it could have filled three

tanker trucks.

At the time, Senate Chief Clerk Faber guessed it would cost

" hundreds of thousands of dollars " to fix the meeting room, plus damage to

two adjoining rooms, including a part of the Senate chamber. Turns out it

cost a boatload more.

To date, the panel that approves insurance claims by state agencies, the

Board of Commissioners of Public Grounds and Buildings, has approved a

$1,331,762 payment from the State Insurance Fund to the Capitol Preservation

Committee. Another $617,881 reimbursement is being sought by the Department

of General Services.

Hubbert-Kemper said the preservation committee hired " a ton " of contractors

to repair the damage. Companies were hired to restore the waterlogged

woodwork, while decorative painters were paid to bring back the room's

murals and others were employed to get rid of the mold and mildew caused by

the flood.

As troublesome as the water damage was, Faber said it proved to be a silver

lining for the Senate because it gave them a good reason to speed up the

return of the chamber to historical specifications.

Although the area had been renovated in 1994, Faber said the room was

supposed to get a rehab of its electrical, heating, ventilation, cooling and

sprinkler systems as part of the larger, multi-million dollar renovation of

the Capitol.

" What we decided was the three rooms are totaled, why don't we go ahead and

do everything right now as opposed to trying to fix it and then come back

and tear it up and redo it later, " he said.

And that's what happened, although the cost of the scheduled renovation of

the chamber and rules committee room was kept separate from the cost of

repairing the water damage. Faber said.

Faber, the Department of General Services and the preservation committee

were able to get the Senate chamber reopened by early March that year.

But for the people who slogged through the mess, that watery Valentine's Day

will be remembered for a long time -- especially as the repair bills

continue to roll in.

" That was quite an experience, " Hubbert-Kemper said. " One I hope we don't

have to end up repeating. "