P-J file photo by Eric Tichy

The customer service entrance for the Jamestown Police Department was closed Thursday because of flooding from an overnight rain storm.

Sam Teresi, Jamestown mayor, said the general contractors working on the Tracy Plaza reconstruction project — Patterson-Stevens Inc. — are responsible for not properly securing the area, which allowed rain water to pour into the police station. He said there has been damage to equipment, files, computers and radios.

“The locker room was flooded out, which included personal items that officers had with them,” Teresi said. “The police department is in rough shape. It has been a complete disruption to the police department. There is a lot of damage in the basement offices of the police department. The water was ankle deep or higher with the rain that came pouring in from the deck.”

Teresi said police officers are still on duty and the department is still fully functional. He said anybody who needs to meet with an officer face-to-face can call the department’s general service line at 483-7536 and they will be given alternate access to the building. Also, anyone who needs assistance is asked to call the dispatch center in Mayville at 661-7090. All emergency calls can still be made to 911.

Teresi said inadequate procedures were taken by the contractor for the Tracy Plaza project to prevent rainwater from entering areas of the Municipal Building located under the deck, which includes the police department.

“By all accounts this was rain water. This wasn’t a water pipe or sprinkler pipe that penetrated through the deck,” Teresi said. “This was directly contributed to the work and inadequate procedures taken by the contractor.”

Teresi said city workers from the Parks and Public Works department, building management services and outside contractors have been helping with the cleanup and restoration. He said in-house legal staff and the city’s insurance company has been working on documenting all the damage done.

“Our primary concern is to get the space cleaned up in as short of a period of time as we can. It has been an outstanding, amazing effort by management, the workforce and outside people brought in. They are working in unison,” Teresi said. “The staff time and cost will all be a part of the settlement process to ensure taxpayers don’t have to pay one dime for anything that they don’t have to. Also, we are making sure precautions are being made by the contractor because I can assure you it will rain again, maybe even later tonight. Starting with the contractor, everybody is taking all the necessary steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Teresi said the flooding didn’t impact the Jamestown Fire Department Station 1, which is also located under the deck of Tracy Plaza. He said city officials are planning to reopen the customer service area to the police department today or first thing Monday morning.

In July, Jamestown City Council approved Patterson-Stevens Inc. of Tonawanda for general construction for $1,534,864 for the Tracy Plaza renovation project.

Last December, the city received $1,480,000 from state through the Green Innovation Grant for the Tracy Plaza redevelopment project. The redesign work for Tracy Plaza will go toward adding more landscaping to make the structure more environmentally friendly, more energy efficient and aesthetically pleasing. Plans for the redesign include relocating the Veterans Memorial to be closer to the wall of the fireman’s doom that is visible on southwest corner of the plaza. On the wall, the plan is for a mural to be painted depicting U.S. soldiers.

Since 2013, city officials have been renovating the deck area surrounding City Hall. The deck covers the city’s police department, a parking garage and storage areas. The first phase of the renovation project was to remove the parapet wall surrounding the building.