BOURNE – Officials in Bourne continue to assess the major damage to the Veteran’s Memorial Community Building caused by a burst sprinkler system pipe Sunday night.
More than 70 percent of the build suffered some type of water damage.
Town Adminsitrator Tom Guerino said the damage to the gym floor, the foyer and the Council on Aging area is substantial.
“We’re estimating over $450,000 worth of damage and that’s before we tear the walls open,” Guerino said.
The building houses the Council on Aging, Recreation Department and board meetings.
All activities in the building have been shut down except the Supportive Day Program. The program is housed in a section of the building which was not affected.
Guerino said right now they are in a coordination period.
“We’re opening up the walls to dry things out – to keep the air quality good in there,” he said.
Coordination meetings are scheduled for Friday.
“We’ve moved the Council on Aging staff to another part of the building, and [Friday] we will start to really assess how we move forward,” Guerino said. “We are kind of playing it day-by-day because we keep finding more as we go through.”
The entire gym floor will need to be replaced, along with the adjacent flooring. In the bathrooms, the first few layers of ceramic on the wall will need to be replaced.
The entire foyer area and the Council on Aging floors will also need to be removed.
“There’s a lot of sheetrock work,” Guerino said.
Officials also believe the entire sprinkler system will need to be re-engineered to a dry system to prevent similar incidents moving forward.
Some evening meetings will be able to be utilized. The Selectmen’s Room, or Meeting Room #2, is available.
The building is insured through Trident Insurance Services out of Springfield.
“Our agent Chris Santos has been absolutely phenomenal and fantastic to work with,” Guerino said.
Major repairs, including the gym floor, are expected to take at least a few months.
“We’re trying to separate those areas that we can dry out and get fixed quickly so that we can get some of the programing back in,” Guerino said.
By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
About CapeCod.com NewsCenter
