Article
John P. Lapotaire, CIEC
TITUSVILLE — It could cost as much as $200,000 to rid the Titusville Police Department Headquarters of mold. According to a city report, about 30 percent of the building has evidence of mold.
The Titusville City Council tonight will vote on a $200,000 budget amendment for the mold remediation project at the building at 1100 John Glenn Blvd.
Mold was discovered behind wallpaper in several offices in the building on Oct. 21, and the city has been working with private companies to correct the problem.
“We’re moving with a sense of urgency,” Titusville Support Services Director Tom Abbate said.
In a report prepared for tonight’s council meeting, Abbate said testing indicated that five offices at police headquarters “were found to have hazardous levels of mold” and 37 other offices “needed various lesser levels of mold remediation and renewal.”
“We’re erring on the side of caution,” Abbate said, in doing work in parts of the building that had what were considered nonhazardous levels of mold.
Abbate blames the mold in the 27-year-old, 40,000-square-foot building on water intrusion through the roof and windows of the building.
Abbate said environmental testing is complete, and the remediation is about half-done. Next, the city will hire a company to do repairs to the building, including replacing drywall, repainting and replacing carpeting. He hopes to have the work completed by early January.
In the meantime, some police staff members who worked in affected areas have temporarily moved to other parts of the building not affected by the mold issue.
In his report, Abbate said the council has no alternative but to approve funds for the project, saying: “Immediate remediation of existing mold and the timely return of the affected spaces to a safe, operating condition is essential to maintain the operational efficiency, and health and well-being of city employees.”
Titusville police and public works officials have deferred comment on the issue to Abbate, on direction of City Manager Mark Ryan.
In a previous prepared statement about the mold problem, issued Oct. 31, the police department said that “despite the challenges this represents, the building issues will not affect service levels” to the public, “and all operations will continue as we relocate employees temporarily.”
In that statement, Titusville Police Chief Tony Bollinger said, “Our concern, first and foremost, is the welfare of our employees.”
Abbate said, if the city council approves the plan, funding for the project will come from money previously budgeted as a match for a federal economic development grant the city sought, but that was not awarded.
Contact Berman at 321-360-1016 or dberman@floridatoday.com .
• John P. Lapotaire, CIEC• Certified Indoor Environmental Consultant• Microshield Environmental Services, LLC• www.Microshield-ES.com
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