[7/16/03]Vicksburg officials will test a different storm grate downtown to get more water into drains faster.

Monday’s decision, Mayor Laurence Leyens said, is not related to a possible lawsuit from a restaurant that closed two weeks ago due to water damage.

Washington Street “has always been a river of water,” Leyens said, and the city wants to fix the problem that already existed, he said.

A $2.6 million reconstruction contract is about a third complete on the city’s main downtown thoroughfare, part of a $5.6 million downtown makeover.

Old bricks are being removed and new ones placed along Washington that slopes south to north.

“The water just flies right by (the current grate), and the street becomes just one big gutter,” Leyens said. The new grate, with blades that will stick up to drain more water from the street, will be installed at China and Washington at a cost of $250.

If it captures more water, others will be bought.

The Biscuit Company Cafe, 1100 Washington, closed indefinitely after what employees described as brown sludge oozed from the kitchen walls and light fixtures during a July 3 rain. The restaurant is below street level, where new bricks were already in place and the street reopened.

Leyens and City Attorney Nancy Thomas said they weren’t able to talk specifics about damage to The Biscuit Company since a lawsuit may be filed, accusing the city of causing the problem.

Leyens said he and other city representatives will meet with the building and restaurant owners about the damage.

Biscuit Company owner Sandy Pearman said many businesses will benefit from efforts to fix the Washington Street drainage problems, but not her restaurant and the 15 full-time employees she had to let go.

“I’m out of business,” Pearman said. “I wish they would have done it sooner.”

Pearman and the building owner, S.J. “Skippy” Tuminello, both have attorneys.

Leyens has said the issue is between Hemphill Construction, the Florence-based contractor working on the urban renewal project, and the owners.

Tim Temple, project manager for Hemphill Construction, said he met with city representatives Tuesday, but said his company followed specifications furnished by the city.

Vicksburg Attorney Lee Thames, Tuminello’s lawyer, said the city and the contractor can continue to assign the blame to each other, but somebody will pay for the structural damage to the building.

“If we end up suing, we’ll probably sue them all anyway,” Thames said.

Chuck Lott of Neel Schaffer Inc., the city’s engineering firm, said the problem is being investigated and the source of the water entering The Biscuit Company hasn’t been determined.