Mold found in temporary office trailers in Bennington

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Mold found in temporary office trailers in Bennington

January 24, 2007

Rutland Herald - Rutland,VT

By PATRICK McARDLE Herald Staff

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/20070124/NEWS/701240364/1003/NEWS02

BENNINGTON — Work crews were tearing insulation and sheetrock out of

the temporary offices on the grounds of the state office building

Tuesday after an environmental investigation agency found mold in

the walls of the trailers.

On the same day, Gov. released his proposed budget,

which includes $2 million for the rehabilitation of the state office

building.

After years of complaints from employees of the building, the state

agreed to relocate employees after at least six were diagnosed with

sarcoidosis.

Sarcoidosis, an ailment with no known cause, is a noncontagious

disease that can cause organ failure or even death in the worst

cases.

The Vermont Department of Buildings and General Services plans to

move the employees into modular, temporary offices that will be

located on the same grounds as the existing office building.

Construction workers had already done some work to prepare the

trailers for use as state offices.

The ATC, which had done some environmental testing of the state

office building as part of the state's investigation, discovered

mold in the sheetrock of the trailers recently. Department of

Buildings and General Services Commissioner R. Tasha Wallis said the

decision was made to gut the trailers again, removing sheetrock and

insulation.

Gingo, an employee in the building who has been the point of

contact between his colleagues and the state, said Wallis told him

the mold had been found above some ceiling tiles.

There has been some concern about how the mold got into the office

space because it had already been reviewed by ATC, Wallis said.

Employees shouldn't be concerned about the safety of the new

offices, Wallis said, because gutting them should remove the mold.

Wallis, reached at home Tuesday, said she could not identify exactly

when the mold was found or how much this would add to the project's

cost.

In addition to the $2 million budgeted for rehabilitation of the

building, Buildings and General Services is asking for $3.3 million

to rent and prepare the temporary offices.

Wallis said the state had already spent $85,000 to fix up the 9,000-

square-foot offices and contracted to pay $90,000 a year in rent.

Gutting those offices will definitely add to the cost, Wallis said.

" Unfortunately, in construction, sometimes things happen. When we

recognized the need for remediation, we also knew we don't want any

more delays, " she said.

The state is trying to get people out of the building as quickly as

possible, Wallis added. To keep the project on-schedule, additional

work crews were hired from the offices of Bennington contractor

Mac-Secor Associates.

On Tuesday, workers could be seen filling large trash bins with

insulation well past 5 p.m.

Wallis said the state still hopes to get probation and parole

employees out of the state office building by February.

The building's other employees are expected to move into 40,000-

square-feet of modular office space located elsewhere on the

building's grounds.

Employees moving there will be from the Bennington District Court

system and human services, such as the Department of Children and

Families and Vocational Rehabilitation.

The state has already spent about $1.2 million on fitting those

offices and recently signed a contract to pay $452,000 a year to

rent them.

With the Legislature's return to Montpelier this month, the

Bennington state office buildings have become a hot topic.

Last week, Wallis and others involved in moving the state employees

testified before several Senate and House committees.

Sen. Illuzzi, R-Essex-Orleans, has been particularly vocal

in his criticism of the administration's response to the problem.

Illuzzi, who is chairman of one of the committees, said the news

that the temporary offices would have to be gutted again was proof

that the project was " spiraling out of control. "

" This is just another blow to the effort to get the employees and

public out of the building. I think we need to treat this as if

there was a fire in the building and get people out of there as

quickly as possible, " he said.

Illuzzi said he still wants to consider whether state employees

would be better off in a more permanent location in Bennington's

downtown.

Contact McArdle at .mcardle@....