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Niles City Hall mold found to be ‘minimal’

120916...R NLES MOLD 2...Niles...12-09-16... Niles Safety Service Director Jim DePasquale explains how the walls in the mayors office are going to remain the original brick and not be covered...by R. Mihael Semple

NILES — The new roof at City Hall is finished and the endeavor to repair the building is likely to come in under budget because the mold was not too widespread, Safety Service Director Jim DePasquale said.

The crew removing the mold and the building material it was growing on found there was not a lot of hidden mold, which DePasquale said would have driven up costs.

“It is excellent news. There is less mold than we figured in the building, it really is minimal. That should keep costs down,” DePasquale said.

ServiceMaster Restoration by Lewis Construction started the next phase in remediation shortly after the new watertight roof was in place a couple of weeks ago.

The crews removing mold-tainted drywall and paneling found “beautiful” brick behind it, DePasquale said. The look isn’t only aesthetically appealing, but it will save on costs to get the work spaces prepared.

Kevin Wyndham, remediation specialist and vice president of business development and sales with ServiceMaster, said air quality tests in the building conducted Dec. 2 show the efforts paid off, with “excellent” readings in areas that formerly had “very bad” results.

Spore counts in the mayor’s office, the income tax office and the treasurer’s office were between 4,450 and nearly 18,000 per cubic meter in August. The same offices had readings below 100 when tested this month, Wyndham said.

“A count of less than 100 is essentially a ‘mold-free’ space,” Wyndham said, and a better reading than most people have in their homes.

The building’s problems came to a head in August when rain seeped into the building through electric outlets and the mayor and other employees working around the visible mold complained of feeling ill. The city shut the building down for a day and called ServiceMaster. The company cleaned surfaces with an anti-microbial agent, isolated areas close to the source of the leaky water and ran air scrubbers in the building, but couldn’t start remediation until the source of the mold problem — a leaky roof — was eliminated.

The city contracted with SRI Roofing & Sheet Metal of New Castle, Pa. for the $203,000 roof. It still needs its flashings installed, which will be completed after the exterior brick masonry work is completed.

The city has been collecting bids for the repairs to the brick work outside and should have a choice sometime in the next week, DePasquale said. The work was originally estimated to cost $60,000.

The city budgeted $44,000 for the mold remediation and up to $100,000 for the interior work. DePasquale said the costs are likely to come in lower.

DePasquale said he wants to get the next phase started quickly so the interior spaces can be fixed up in January.

Although most employees at City Hall are still working in the building, those in the tax and treasury office have been working out of the wellness center on Sharkey Drive. Others have moved offices within the building.

There isn’t enough space in the wellness center to accommodate the needs of the offices in the new year when tax season starts, DePasquale said.

Wyndham said the cleaned areas are ready to be occupied, but should be watched closely to ensure the source of the water leak is gone. The work should be done by Friday, Wyndham said.

None of the tests indicated there was any stachybotrys or “black mold” in the building at any point, Wyndham said.

rfox@tribtoday.com

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