BRATTLEBORO — Though more than two months have passed since sewage-tainted water overflowing from a gravity pipe being installed by the town flooded the 10 businesses in Black Mountain Square, none of the parties involved in the construction has assumed responsibility.
Total damages to the businesses and the building that houses them exceed $500,000, but reimbursement is being held up while the town, excavating contractor Kingsbury Construction Co., and engineering firm Hoyle, Tanner & Associates of Manchester, N.H. spar over who is responsible.
The town recently rejected a claim by HJK Enterprises, the owner of the shopping center, for fear of being left holding the bag for all of the damages.
“The town did not cause the damage, and it would not be appropriate for the taxpayers to bear that expense,” said Town Manager Peter Elwell.
“We value the businesses at Black Mountain Square and wish that this matter could have been resolved more quickly for their sake,” he said.
“However, the town cannot solve this unilaterally but must - and will - continue to work with all parties involved to achieve an equitable outcome,” Elwell said.
According to Elwell, the project has had other problems and was originally scheduled to be completed this past July. No date has been projected for its completion.
In addition, the VFW has filed a complaint with Kingsbury Construction for loss of business due to the pipe-related work being done in their parking lot, and the two parties have been negotiating a settlement.
Dean Zoecklein, operations manager of Kingsbury Construction, said that he is aware of claims made by various parties and that they are being reviewed, but he would not speculate on when they would be resolved.
A representative of Hoyle, Tanner refused to comment on the situation.
“It's been emotionally and financially horrible for my tenants and us,” said Sandy Harris, a principal partner in HJK Enterprises.
“You have a disaster, and no one is helping out,” she said. “Some of the tenants have lost serious income, and it's a waiting game whether they can get back on their feet with no money. And remember that we, as businesses, are also taxpayers to the town.”
A costly recovery
Hardest hit by the flood were the two food stores, North End Butchers and Adams Seafood and Fish Market, because food stores must adhere to strict sanitation rules.
“We had 4 to 5 inches of water on the floor, and we were told it contained 1 percent sewage,” said Chris Barry, owner of North End Butchers. “So we had to discard about $9,000 worth of inventory.”
“We also had to turn away a delivery the morning of the flood,” Barry continued. “Then we had to replace the floors, the molding, and the baseboards and repaint.”
Barry's insurance company, Liberty Mutual, paid him $15,000 to replace his floors, but that is just a fraction of his costs. To date, Liberty has been silent about whether the company will disburse any additional sums.
“I couldn't make payroll during the five weeks we were out of business,” he said. “My employees had to go on unemployment, and that makes my unemployment payments go up. And I didn't do anything to cause this.”
Darlene Smith, owner of Adams Seafood and Fish Market, lost most of her inventory and had to rebuild major portions of her store.
“I spoke to the town manager on the day of the flood,” she said. “We figured they would pay for it, but they all are passing the buck. It's a financial burden on us, and the holidays are coming.”
Smith's own insurance is capped at $25,000, and her losses are higher than that. “We have a wholesale business we run out of here that was affected too,” she said.
Windham Wines, directly adjacent to North End Butchers, is in a similar situation. “We sent a claim to our insurance adjuster, but we haven't heard anything back,” said co-owner Marty Ramsburg.
“We had to take out all of our shelves and all of our wine. The only thing left was our dishwasher and refrigerator,” she said. “New drywall and baseboards had to be installed and painted. We have bills from 10 different people - cleanup, painters, carpenters, etc. And then there's the cost of being out of business for five weeks.”
HJK Enterprises itself is facing expenses of well over $100,000 for its cleanup and rebuilding responsibilities, and Harris says the company's insurance is capped at $100,000.
Other businesses affected by the flooding include Lawton Floor Design, Black Mountain Trading, Brattleboro Savings and Loan, BRW Electronics, U.S. Cellular, and Liberty Tax.
Stormwater overwhelms system
The town is installing the gravity pipe to replace a pumping station that pumped water across an expanse on Black Mountain Road near Interstate 91. Gravity pipes use the force of gravity to move water, thereby eliminating the need for a pumping station that is expensive to maintain.
According to a report by the Brattleboro Department of Public Works, on Sept. 29, the day before the flood, Director of Public Works Stephen Barrett notified Kingsbury Construction, the company installing the pipe, that a heavy rain of up to 6 inches was forecast and that Kingsbury should make sure the construction site was properly prepared.
A casing for the gravity pipe had been installed, but the pipe itself had not, and therefore the casing was not sealed. In preparation for the rain, Kingsbury sealed the casing with a 24-inch plug. Kingsbury indicated that its workers would be monitoring the site carefully.
At some point during the storm, the plug came loose, allowing the immense amount of storm water from a nearby stream to flow through the open casing and into the sewer system, where it began overwhelming the system.
At 6 a.m., a wastewater treatment plant operator received a “High Wet Well Level” alarm from the Spring Tree Pumping Station, and the operator identified sewage discharging out of a manhole on Spring Tree Road. The sewage was running across the lot and indirectly discharging into the West River Setback near the pump station.
DPW workers managed to eventually block the flow of water by putting sandbags into a manhole in the parking lot of the VFW Post at 40 Black Mountain Rd., directly above Black Mountain Square.
But it wasn't until Chris Barry arrived for work at North End Butchers sometime after 7 a.m. that the parties became aware that water had bubbled up through the drains of the stores in Black Mountain Square.
Feeling forgotten
Elwell affirmed that the town is working toward an equitable settlement and reserved substantial comment so as not to jeopardize that process.
Several Black Mountain Square store owners said that the town manager has asked each of the store owners to send a letter to all three parties enumerating the damages.
Despite the great loss experienced by the businesses, minutes from Selectboard meetings following the incident make no mention of a public discussion of the situation, though discussion of potential legal action and negotiations could legitimately have been the subject of executive sessions.
When asked about this, Selectboard Chair David Gartenstein insisted there had been some discussion, but he could not recall the content.
By mid-November, all of the businesses were up and running again, but many need additional repairs, and bills related to the flood are piling up.
Harris said that she is very impressed with how her tenants have handled a very tough situation.
“I'm so proud of them for stepping up to the plate and dealing with a horrendous catastrophe with such dignity,” she said. “And we are all thankful for the help we received from volunteers who heard about our situation and came down to pitch in.”
“We are very lucky to have Sandy Harris as a landlord,” said Ramsburg. “She was down here from day one bringing in people to help clean up, and rolled up her own sleeves to help paint and reconstruct. But in the end, she has her own expenses and responsibilities to deal with.”
“We're small businesses and had nothing to do with what happened,” said Smith. “Someone should make right of this.”