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Published on 11/10/1999 All articles from this issue

Sewer line break proves a blessing for police dept.

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue

Special to the Town Crier

Soon the Los Altos Police Department will have a face lift, with new carpeting, new kitchen vinyl and acoustical carpet-like wall coverings in the halls.

The police department was not scheduled for a make-over. But last April a main sewer line broke and sewage backed up into the building.

"It was a major, major sort of thing, with a break in the middle of a concrete slab," said City Manager Phil Rose.

"It was a mess," said Capt. Cliff Balch. "To repair the line, workers had to tear up carpet from the slab floor and then "jackhammer the concrete," Balch said.

It took a while to get the sewer problem resolved, Balch said. "Then we had to wait to make sure there were no more sewer problems. Then we had to get vendors" for bids.

The sewer damage was not throughout the building. But the remaining 12-year-old carpet "was pretty threadbare and stained," Balch said, from being in a building that is a "24-hour operation."

The vinyl floor covering in the kitchen is 30 years old "and due for replacement as well," said Chief Lucy Carlton in a report to the Los Altos City Council.

The walls get "nicked from the gun belts the officers wear, forcing us to repaint often," Balch said.

The plan is to replace all the carpeting, the kitchen and lunch-room vinyl and add a carpet-like acoustical wall covering from the floor to hip-height. City officials said that it has taken time to get bids from three vendors due to all the construction in the area.

Balch said he expected the bids would be complete this week and the item would be on the council agenda for next Tuesday.

The cost of the job is estimated at $30,000.

After months of cured concrete floor in the halls, soon new carpeting will be in. The new look will be light-blue with beige accents.

"We all look forward to it," Balch said.