‘Big mess’ at Bexar courtrooms
Cleanup ongoing for areas damaged by burst pipes during Texas freeze
Three weeks later, Bexar County’s Facilities Management Department is still cleaning up the water damage from a pipe that burst in the Cadena-reeves Justice Center during the crippling winter storm that shut down most of the city.
Carpeting and files were left sopping wet, and some furniture was destroyed.
“It smells,” said Judge Stephanie Boyd, who presides over the 187th District Court.
Some courtrooms on the fourth floor and the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office on the fifth floor above sustained the most damage from the storm, officials said.
Bexar County facilities were closed for an entire week beginning Feb. 15 after a winter storm dropped a veil of ice and snow over two-thirds of the state, leaving many without power and water in the area.
The damage from the burst pipe was discovered Feb. 18.
The carpet inside Boyd’s courtroom was so damaged, most of it was removed.
Inside her back offices, the water damage went beyond the soggy carpeting, taking out her court coordinator’s computers. In addition, ceiling tiles fell near her chambers, she said.
“It’s just a big mess,” Boyd said. “I anticipate that the carpeting will be the same as with highway construction — it will take forever.”
Boyd said she hopes all of her carpeting and computers will be replaced instead of being subjected to techniques to dry the materials and the machinery.
Despite the inconvenience, Boyd said no one was displaced, and her court is still able to keep working and moving cases.
Her across-the-hall neighbor, Judge Jennifer Peña, had similar damage to her 290th District Court and back offices.
“We were lucky,” she said. “But the deputies had to deal with the smell.”
Peña normally conducts Zoom proceedings from her chambers in the back offices, and since COVID-19 suspended juries nearly a year ago, not many people are in her courtroom.
“It did not affect our ability to get work done,” she said.
Just one floor above, in a section of the DA’S Office, people worked around boxes and other misplaced items. The area affected by the damage is occupied by the family violence, public integrity and cybercrime divisions.
Like most other departments at the justice center, some courtroom staff and employees from the DA’S Office have been working remotely.
“While a small percentage of our physical files were damaged, this does not impact our ability to seek justice,” District Attorney Joe D. Gonzales said.
He added that the DA’S Office maintains a digital copy of all case files.