Sewer and sprinkler malfunctions lead to extended closure of County of Monterey Government Center.

A sewer malfunction and a faulty sprinkler system shuttered the County of Monterey Government Center, forcing services online and into adjacent buildings, according to county officials. 

The sewer line has been repaired at the government center, which is located at 168 W. Alisal St. in Salinas. However, a leak in the fire sprinkler system required further repairs that prolonged the closure. 

The building will hopefully be reopened and services restored to their original places at 8am Wednesday, Sept. 23, says county spokesperson Nick Pasculli, which would culminate in a three-week closure of the building. 

The closure caused the cancellation of public meetings, including the Sept. 15 Board of Supervisors meeting. Pasculli says the Tuesday, Sept. 22 Board of Supervisors meeting will be held in an alternative location, in which the supervisors are set to discuss Flock contracts. 

A back-up in the sewer system in the first-floor employee bathroom flooded the bathroom, private offices, the hallway and the employee breakroom on Sept. 3, prompting county officials to immediately close the building, Pasculli says. The flooding impacted about 2,000 square feet of the first floor in the west wing of the building. 

The most impacted county services include the Assessor, Clerk-Recorder's Office, the Treasurer-Tax Collector's Office, the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and the Public Defender's Office. 

Pasculli says that they closed the entire building out of an abundance of caution on Sept. 3. The County later announced the closure on Sept. 8.

As they repaired the damage from the flooding, they discovered Sept. 15 that the fire sprinkler system was leaking and saturating the carpet. Luckily, the cleanup team was already there for the sewer issue. 

“It’s kind of an unfortunate domino effect of finding a problem with one thing, then another thing cropping up in the process of resolving the issue,” Pasculli says. 

A commercial disaster cleanup company, industrial hygienist, the fire sprinkler company and subcontractors worked on repairs, Pasculli says. There are still some spot cleanup areas as a result of the sewer malfunction, and the fire sprinkler system still needs to be tested. 

Cleanup crews had to tear out the sheetrock out of the walls, rip up carpet and remove impacted furniture and equipment. Pasculli did not have an estimated cost for the damage.

The irony, Pasculli says, was that the fire sprinkler system had just had its routine maintenance done in April. 

“The building is meticulously maintained—it is the government center, the public-facing building for the county,” Pasculli says. “But unfortunately, it’s 20 years old, and systems tend to wear out when you least expect them.” 

As several services have been moved to neighboring buildings or online, here’s where county services are currently accessible: 

• The Treasurer-Tax Collector office is available in the West Wing at 142 West Alisal St. within the District Attorney’s office, with an entrance on the first floor. 
• The Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and the Assessor-Clerk-Recorder’s Office is available on the first floor of the East Wing at 142 W. Alisal Street in Conference Room E-118.
• The Public Defender’s Office can be reached at 831-755-5058 and in-person at the Law Library on 142 West Alisal Street, Suite E-107 from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5pm.
• The Auditor-Controller’s Office is remote, and limited in-person service for Accounts Payable and Payroll is available at the Information Technology Department at 1590 Moffett Street.
• The District 1 supervisor’s office (Luis Alejo) is working remotely. The District 2 (Glenn Church), 3 (Chris Lopez) and 5 (Kate Daniels) supervisor offices are working from their Castroville, King City and Monterey offices, respectively.