HUGHSON, Calif. — Officials at the Church of Christ in Hughson are left dealing with a more than $60,000 cleanup bill and a slurry cement mess after a city sewer construction project went awry and sent cement into a home and church building.
"It's crazy, I've never seen anything like it," said Sheila Parnell, the church's Children's Education Director. "You show pictures to people and they're like, 'what?'"
According to city documents a city contractor, United Paving Maintenance, was hired to fill an old sewer pipe with cement slurry near the intersection of Tully Road and Santa Fe Avenue.
Parnell says that on Dec. 6, construction work began, but crews never switched the church's property to a new sewer line before installing the slurry. Workers reportedly came to the church after noticing the issue and found the damage in the pastor's home which is on the church campus.
"All the concrete was coming out of their plumbing, out of their toilets, their bathtubs, their sinks," said Parnell. "My family has been in construction for a couple of generations, never have they ever seen anything like this."
Faucets, sinks and floors were covered in cement, slurry inched up walls and damaged personal belongings are what Parnell and others found in the pastor's home.
Months later, Parnell says the church has been forced to foot the nearly $60,000 clean-up bill which does not cover temporary rent or any actual repairs.
"I just feel like we're stuck," said Parnell. "We didn't ask for this, it wasn't a project we were doing."
In a statement, the city of Hughson said it understands the frustration and empathizes with the situation. Staff members have been out at the church looking at the damage and talking with officials.
"Portables were provided when the city shut the water off for a short period of time and because the Christian school was in session. After the water was turned back on, the city left the portables on site as it is my understanding that a portion of the church building is still being utilized," the statement says. "The city worked directly with the contractor to resolve this issue from the beginning and once the claim was turned over to their insurance company, we have been in contact with the insurance company as well. Unfortunately we are at the mercy of their insurance company and we are not seeing the results that we need to see as far as resolving these issues and getting the residents back into their home and church as swiftly as possible. As the insurance is not moving on these claims, the city is looking at all legal options available to resolve this."
With some cleanup underway and Sunday services temporarily moved to the church's lobby, church officials and congregation members are hoping for relief soon.
"There was a lot of disbelief and outrage when it happened and then that was compounded when there really wasn't someone stepping up taking responsibility for it," said Kerry Crawford, whose children attend the church's school, Hughson Christain School. "Isn't this exactly what insurance is for? People make mistakes, accidents happen. Here we are two months later and I'm kind of blown away that nobody is accepting responsibility for it."
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