PD: ‘Roof is like Swiss cheese’

Sewage backup pushes conditions toward tipping point, leaving officers to operate from RV

EAST HAMPTON >> The police department is beset from above and below by seepage — including a pre-Christmas incident in which a clogged sewer drain backed up, flooding headquarters with more than six inches of “gray water.”

This week’s Nor’easter compounded that problem, as winddriven rain seeped into headquarters from multiple leaks in the roof even as police officers and a contractor continued to try and repair the damage from the clogged drain.

“We’re being attacked on two fronts, from above and below,” Police Chief Sean D. Cox said Wednesday morning.

The damage from the backflow is so severe police will have to vacate headquarters to allow a new floor to be installed. When that happens, regular police functions will be carried out in a state police incident command vehicle — an RV outfitted to permit prisoner processing, including allowing fingerprints to be taken.

The vehicle, which reportedly even includes a prison cell, could arrive as soon as Monday, Cox said. The RV’s arrival “depends on when we get the flooring materials,” Cox said.

In the meantime, the problems have only added to the routine burdens placed on East Hampton police officers, town officials acknowledge.

The police union, Local 2407 of Council 4 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal employees, this week sent a letter to two of the newspapers that cover the town outlining

their concerns — and frustrations.

“The department is forced to operate out of a building which does not meet federal law for juvenile holding, is not Americans With Disability Act compliant and inhibits our mission of diversifying your police force,” the letter says.

“Chief Cox has repeatedly held presentations to the Town Council on the dangers and liability of continuing operations out of the police department. How can the town repeatedly make disproportionate cuts to a department that takes up so little of the town budget?” the letter asks.

“This reckless budget cutting cannot be more visible than the police department building itself. In the past month, raw sewage has flooded from drains in one department bathroom. This coated more than half the department in two inches of standing sewage,” the letter says.

Equally vexing for officers is the fact they are forced to “park and change (into and out of their uniforms) at an auxiliary location at 205 E. High St. because of a lack of parking at Town Hall.

“The 14 members of the department are forced to carpool 1.7 miles back and forth to change or retrieve belongings or additional supplies. This temporary solution was put into effect (in) September 2014,” the letter said.

“This would not be acceptable to members of the Board of Education or Town Hall; why is it acceptable for the police department? What the department manages to achieve under these working conditions is amazing and a testament to its dedication to its community,” the letter adds. “The department’s continued professionalism while working in squalor shows only our care to the job at hand.”

“You can’t blame the town staff” for feeling abused, Town Manager Michael Maniscalco said Wednesday, pointing out they have made repeated presentations about the inadequacies and deficiencies of the present Town Hall.

Discussions about building a new police department began in 1982, Maniscalco said. But in all that time, nothing has been done. The union acknowledged as much in its letter, saying, “Numerous proposals for building sites have been presented to the council but a few councilors see this as a time to drag their feet instead of compromising for the betterment of the town.”

For his part, Cox said the flood of gray water has sapped morale, making it harder to attract and retain officers. Cox also acknowledged his own frustrations.

“When you are standing ankle deep in gray water, anyplace is better than here,” he said.

That “anyplace” may finally be in the offing, however. On Monday, the Town Council met to review eight proposals of potential sites for a new Town Hall/police station. The council will meet Jan. 31 with the owners of two properties to discuss their proposals in depth.

Following this week’s regular council meeting, Council Chairwoman Patience R. Anderson said members will meet in the first week of February to interview applicants for the nine-member Town Hall/ police station building committee. Anderson said she hopes the building committee will be able to “bring a proposal forward for a referendum well ahead of November.”

In a discussion with the council Tuesday, Maniscalco said the flood of sewage into the station occurred because the drain pipe into which the toilet in headquarters emptied was too small.

“It was not capable of handling the capacity,” he said after the meeting.

There were indications that some extraneous material may have also gotten into the drain, further impeding it, he added.

“It was like a clogged artery,” Cox said.

Eventually, because of an automatic flushing device, the system backed up and overflowed. Cox said the overflow spread into the carport, into the prisoner processing area and two offices.

The flooring has been removed and a portion of the department has been steam cleaned, Cox said. However, rainwater began leaking into the station as the storm arrived overnight Monday.

Cox said the seepage was partially pronounced “in one of our prisoner cells.”

“The roof is like Swiss cheese,” Maniscalco told the council.

“I’m learning (that) if you have a flat roof, every time you plug one leak, another one pops up someplace else,” Cox said.

The leaks are apparently coming from the point where the Town Hall and the police department meet and is leaking behind the wall, making it “hard to get to,” Maniscalco said.