Masonite sheets cover the floor, and desks are crammed between stacks of boxes in Room 4 on the main floor of the Riverside Township Hall. But as of Thursday, Dec. 15 Riverside’s village offices were open for business.
“We’re functioning,” said Bob Caraher, the village’s chief building inspector, who sat behind a wall of boxes stuffed with files and architectural plans. “Thank God this happened a week before Christmas rather than the week before Memorial Day or the Fourth of July.”
A water pipe between the second and third floors burst on Dec. 18 and flooded the main village office area, destroying the switchboard and ruining furniture, computers, and carpeting. The water also flooded the basement, destroying the village’s E-911 computer. Emergency calls were routed through North Riverside for several days, but a new E-911 computer has since been installed and was up and running as of Monday.
But Village Manager Kathleen Rush said that employees likely wouldn’t relocate back into the main office until sometime in early February. The village has hired an interior designer to help rework the office area.
?”Bob Uphues
