Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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Amanda Butterfield reporting The basement of a Salt Lake City school is all ripped apart, after a sewage line backed up and flooded.
Robyn Eriwata-Buchanan/Tenth East Montessori School: "It looks like a hurricane has toppled everything in its path."
The damage, loss and clean- up costs are over 100- thousand dollars. And that's not good news for a small school which barely breaks even.
So who pays, the city or the school? The city and school are working that our right now. Meanwhile half of the students who are enrolled here have to go somewhere else. The other half are only allowed in the upstairs.
Robyn Eriwata-Buchanan/Tenth East Montessori School: "It's depressing, but it was really sad in the beginning."
Early December, six inches of sewage flooded the basement of the school at 170 S. 1000 East.
Robyn Eriwata-Buchanan/Tenth East Montessori School: "It was just gushing right up from this toilet."
A huge mess to clean up. But the bigger mess: who's responsible?
That's what Robyn Buchanan and her husband, the owners of Tenth East Montessori School, have been trying to figure out with Salt Lake City Risk Management for over a month, and still no answer.
Robyn Eriwata-Buchanan/Tenth East Montessori School: "I can't see how it can be our fault because it happened down the street."
The school is about half a block up the road, and city crews came to the sewer to fix it. Within hours of snaking the sewer, the water subsided in the school.
Right now the city is trying to figure out who is responsible. When they're investigating a claim like this, they have a strict policy of not commenting until it's finished. But according to Robyn's husband, that's not what they told him.
Robyn Eriwata-Buchanan/Tenth East Montessori School: "They told him that they do not consider themselves liable."
Over the phone, city officials told us they have neither denied nor accepted responsibility. It's still under investigation, and part of the reason it's taken this long is because they have not received a completed claim from the Buchanans.
Robyn Eriwata-Buchanan/Tenth East Montessori School: "We've spent hours and hours getting documentation from us, and they keep asking for more."
And here's what makes it even worse: Robyn and her husband are trying to sell the building. They've got plans to move the school.
Robyn Eriwata-Buchanan/Tenth East Montessori School: "It makes it really difficult." "You can't dwell on it, or you sit down and cry."
City officials say if it is the city's fault, they will step up and take care of it. If it's not, the Buchanan's will have to cover the cost. However, under the city's no fault ordinance, they would be eligible for about three-thousand dollars.
