The Center for the New Age is looking at thousands of dollars in damage after city sewer backup on Friday, March 4.
“I have one whole unit where we had demolition. They had to take all the wallboard out and tiles and all new stuff,” Director Anita Daulton said. “It’s going to cost thousands and thousands of dollars. It’s costing me business …. And they’re kind of feeling like it’s not that big of a deal, but it is a big deal.”
The sewer line flowed in the building through the toilets around 3 a.m., but it was not until the center opened a few hours later that Daulton and her staff found out. It was around 9:30 a.m. when the initial sewage clean-up crews arrived.
The center has not been told how much of the damage the city will pay for until estimates are completed.
“The claim is still being investigated and it’s much too early to tell what the cost to the city will be,” Sedona’s Director of Wastewater Roxanne Holland said.
The backup was caused when the city opened the valve too quickly when crews were switching from the old sewer pipe to the new sewer pipe. Based on what the city told Daulton, if the Center had a backup valve at the connection line then the damage could have been prevented or minor.
“Our business is not closed. That’s the good news,” Daulton said. The center has independently contracted psychics, healers, masseuses, as well as a bookshop, crystal shop and guided vortex tours. “Some of the readers can’t do business because they don’t have their offices and supposedly the city is going to reimburse them. Well, we’ll see … it’s a long process and it’s not like something that could be fixed in a day. It’s going to take a month. So it really has impacted us.”
Daulton claims she has video footage of the backup with city employees laughing about the damage as well.
“I’m still waiting for a call from the wastewater department to tell me what they’re going to do. They just got the information submitted from the restoration company,” Daulton said. “They had to itemize all of our personal items in our computers and all that stuff that was contaminated and damaged. And then I’m supposed to be hearing back from the city when they’re going to start the reconstruction.”
