Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz has announced that the Edward A. Rath County Office Building will resume full operations effective tomorrow (Wednesday, April 24) morning following the temporary closure of select offices for public safety reasons.

Offices located on the third and fourth floors of the Rath Building were closed yesterday and today in order to allow essential employees from the county's Department of Public Works to conduct extensive cleanup efforts in various areas on both floors.

A water main break involved a heating and cooling unit occurred at approximately 7 a.m. Monday. The incident caused water to flood on the second, third, fourth and fifth floors of the 16-floor structure, as well as inside some of the building’s elevator shafts and staircases.

County employees who normally work in the offices located on those two floors were asked to not report to work Monday and Tuesday and anyone from the general public who had appointments scheduled with a specific county department on the third floor or fourth floor had to reschedule.

“I want to thank our employees who were impacted by this for allowing us to make sure all areas effected on the third and fourth floors of the building were addressed so that their safety and the safety of anyone from the general public was never put in jeopardy,” said Poloncarz. “I also want to thank the Department of Public Works employees who worked tirelessly over the past few days with the cleanup so that we can return to normal business Wednesday morning.”

Anyone who had planned to visit the Rath Building to conduct business involving any department of county government that was impacted by the two-day closure of the third and fourth floors are being asked to reschedule those appointments.