Mold shuts down part of center’s foyer

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Mold shuts down part of center's foyer

By Polly/Current-Argus Staff Writer

May 26, 2005, 02:48 am

http://www.currentargus.com/artman/publish/article_13311.shtml

CARLSBAD — Mold in the Walter Gerrells Performing Arts and

Exhibition Centre has caused a temporary closure of part of the

foyer, but City Administrator Jon Tully said the problem is largely

confined to the ceiling areas.

Civic center Manager Guy Lutman said he was given a directive from

Tully to look at the building for any signs of deterioration.

He reported tiles that appeared to be stained and possible mold on

the walls to the city's environmental services manager,

Aguilar, and the city made the decision to have Assaigai Analytical

Laboratories Inc., of Albuquerque, inspect the civic center.

" They did find mold, and they did investigate both air samples and

bulk samples, " Aguilar said of Assaigai Laboratories' findings.

He said nothing was out of the ordinary given that the civic center

roof has been leaking for some time.

Tully said after he got a report back from Assaigai, he consulted

with a toxicologist out of Albuquerque, Don Fisher, who will soon be

sending a written report to the city. Tully said Fisher told him

that none of the breathable areas in the civic center are a concern,

and the mold is mostly confined to the ceiling areas.

The report from Assaigai Analytical Laboratories states that there

are several types of mold in the civic center, including

Stachybotrys, or black mold.

" Certainly we're concerned about all of the mold. But I would have

been more concerned if the toxicologist had indicated there was a

problem with the breathing spaces, " Tully said. " Our first concern

has been to stop the roof leaks. "

Tully said the roof leaks are probably to blame for the mold

problems.

" Any building, whether it's a residence or a commercial building, if

it has roof leaks, has mold, " Tully said.

Pointing out that there are no standards of acceptable amounts of

mold contamination, which is also stated on the National Center for

Disease Control's Web site, Tully said that it is logical to expect

a higher amount of mold when there have been water leaks, either due

to rain or to leaky pipes.

Tully said he will not shut down the civic center, but the city will

work to solve the problem and to monitor the civic center to make

sure it doesn't come back.

" We'll do follow-up monitoring as we get into abatement, " Tully said.

The city administrator had no estimate for how much it could cost

the city to abate the mold problem.

In the civic center annex, he said a lot of work needs to be done in

addition to cleaning up the mold, including moving air conditioners

off of the roof, redoing duct work for the air conditioners, getting

rid of the dropped ceiling and replacing the lighting.

" If we do all of that … we're probably looking at somewhere around

$300,000 to $350,000. And that's probably a little on the high

side, " Tully said, noting that estimates from a few years ago were

for $200,000 to $250,000. " I'm thinking it's probably gone up a bit. "

In recent years, Tully said the city has also had mold in the

Municipal Court building, the old juvenile detention center, where

the Community Kitchen is now located, and the animal shelter. The

mold in all of those buildings was abated, and Tully said the city

continues to monitor them for air quality.

But Aguilar said even though the city has had to abate

other mold problems, it is somewhat of a new problem to the city.

" The thing about mold, everyone's relatively new to it. We don't

know if it's something serious, " Aguilar said.

Aguilar said from what he has found out, mold can affect people

differently.

" There are people with highly sensitive allergies that it affects

within 20 minutes, " Aguilar said, noting that other people will

never seem to be bothered. " The city's just trying to be proactive

instead of reactive. "

Aguilar said no one has come forward with a health-related problem

due to mold at the civic center.

" We'd like to keep it that way, " he said.

According to Assaigai's report, mold was found in the foyer,

auditorium, annex and a conference room storage area.

" As a result of the sampling, any existing water leaks or excessive

moisture levels within the civic center should be located and

eliminated before additional remodeling is completed, so that

subsequent and continuing mold growth is not promoted within the

facility, " the Assaigai report states.