Water leak floods three floors at Lansing City Hall

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 1 — Some employees at Lansing City Hall are back to working from home this week after a water tank burst over the weekend, flooding out the offices of City Council, Mayor Andy Schor, City Clerk Chris Swope and three city departments.

A large steam heat water storage tank on the 10th Floor of City Hall busted over the weekend, damaging City Council chambers and offices and soaking through ceiling tiles and floors through the ninth, eighth and some of the seventh floor, city officials said.

The cause and extent of the damage is being assessed. Meanwhile, several employees in the Mayor’s  and Clerk’s offices and the human resources and Ffinance and Public Services departments have temporarily moved offices or have been allowed to work from home. 

This week’s Council committee meetings have also been rescheduled. The City Operations and Equity, Diversity & Inclusion committees will meet at 3:30 and 4:30 p.m., respectively, Sept. 8. The Ways and Means Committee meets at 3:15 p.m.  Friday (Sept. 3). 

In January, Schor rebooted plans to relocate or reconstruct City Hall, releasing a broad “Request for Qualifications and Proposals” that seeks to contract with a “development professional” for help renovating, relocating or reconstructing the building — including a new plan for the courts, police facilities and the lock-up.

The building siphon about a half-million dollars annually in maintenance costs, city officials told City Pulse. Former Mayor Virg Bernero launched plans in 2017 to offload the aging site into the hands of a developer and to relocate the city’s offices to another, more cost-efficient location elsewhere downtown.

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