Nursing home mold problem grows costly

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Nursing home mold problem grows costly

http://www.news-gazette.com/localnews/story.cfm?Number=19023

By MIKE MONSON

© 2005 THE NEWS-GAZETTE

Published Online September 23, 2005

Champaign/Urbana,IL

URBANA – Officials believe they are close to resolving a costly

mold problem at the new Champaign County Nursing Home under

construction in east Urbana.

But the solutions aren't going to be cheap. The final tab for

removing all the mold could wind up in the $800,000 range, county

officials confirmed.

The Champaign County Board on Thursday voted to approve a

$237,000 contract with The Luse Companies of Aurora to remove mold

from the northeast and southeast wings of the new nursing home,

which is about 70 percent complete.

The firm will begin work Oct. 2 and should be finished by Nov.

30, said Denny Inman, a senior administrator with the county.

County officials hope to open the 243-bed, $20 million nursing

home in March. Voters approved a $20 million bond issue in 2002 to

pay for the project.

Inman said the remediation work will involve removing drywall,

brushing the mold off wood supports and removing a small portion of

the wood veneer, testing for mold and then coating the wood with a

sealant.

" It will be scraped and sealed and tested, " he said.

The contract won't include the cost of reinstalling the drywall.

Inman confirmed that the cost of doing that work could be in the

$300,000 range.

Other wings of the nursing home have already been cleaned, at a

cost in the $250,000 range, he said.

Inman said he hopes the latest work will put an end to the mold

problem, which county officials believe was caused by contaminated

wood.

" We've had a considerable number of construction projects, and we

never anticipated this issue, " he said. " We tried to look out for

all variables. This is one we did not foresee. "

Inman said the county is in negotiations with the project's

general trades contractor, Otto Baum & Sons of Decatur, and the

county's project manager, PKD of Champaign, about receiving

compensation for the mold removal.

The county has hired a Chicago law firm, Duane LLP, to

represent it.

If the cost of the removal pushes the nursing home project's cost

5 percent above the original $20 million estimate, to $21 million,

the county will be required to go before the Illinois Health

Facilities Planning Board and get a new certificate of need.

" That's not uncommon, " Inman said. " But it's costly and

complicated and could delay the March opening by up to four months. "

How the county will pay for any cost overruns beyond the $20

million that was bonded for also remains to be seen.

During the meeting, Inman said the $237,000 to pay The Luse

Companies was coming from the nursing home construction budget.

Are we hitting a wall? Inman was asked.

" We are fast approaching a wall, " he said.