YOUNGSTOWN — A broken water pipe at the city-owned Covelli Centre caused more than $200,000 worth of damage to the facility’s kitchen and a mechanical room.

City Finance Director Kyle Miasek informed city council Wednesday about the Jan. 22 breakage and said he would be seeking approval of legislation at the body’s next meeting, March 5, to pay the expenses minus whatever the city’s insurance company covers.

But Miasek said he expects the city to pay quite a bit out of pocket for the equipment that was destroyed.

The administration gave approval for the work to be done to keep the center operating, Miasek said.

Reading from a Wednesday email sent to him by Jordan Ryan, the center’s executive director, Miasek said, the water pipe for the center’s fire suppression system above the drop ceiling in the kitchen, separated and broke during a cold snap. The waterline was shut off about 15 minutes after the break occurred.

Ryan’s email reads: “Heat in the building was fully operational, but the issue occurred because the building was designed to, while the kitchen equipment and exhaust fan are on, the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system regulates kitchen pressure by opening a damper above the drop ceiling. While normally this is not an issue, temperatures were near record lows and caused the pipe to freeze and break.”

Destroyed by the pipe break were four convection ovens, a pizza oven, a large steamer, an eight-burner grill, two roller ovens, a food processor and a large mixer.

Most of the equipment was original to the building, constructed nearly 20 years ago, Miasek said.

It cost about $117,000 to replace the equipment, he said.

MECHANICAL ROOM

DAMAGE

Also, the center’s pump controller and transfer switch in a mechanical room near the kitchen experienced heavy water damage, destroying that equipment. Miasek estimated the replacement cost at $50,000.

“Until the fire pump controller is replaced, the only way to have a fully operational fire suppression system is to run our emergency generator 24 / 7,” Ryan wrote. “This is still ongoing until the controller is replaced.”

Also, the cleanup by SERVPRO of Mahoning and North Columbiana Counties cost about $30,000 to $40,000, Miasek said, and replacing ceiling tiles cost about $3,000 to $4,000.

There are also ongoing costs of about $800 to $900 a day to keep the building in compliance, Miasek said.

The city filed an insurance claim, he said.

“The question is what is the deductible amount threshold and what is going to be covered and what is going to be required out of pocket?” Miasek said.

The city hasn’t been able to get a new pizza oven and won’t have one for eight to 12 weeks, he said. In the meantime, the center hired a food truck to make pizza for events there, Miasek said.

The center had an operational kitchen eight days after the broken pipe for two sold-out bull riding shows the following weekend, Ryan wrote.