Kingston City Court has mold, will have to relocate temporarily

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Kingston City Court has mold, will have to relocate temporarily

Kingston Daily Freeman - Kingston,NY

By Kirby,

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/site/news.cfm?

newsid=17852935 & BRD=1769 & PAG=461 & dept_id=74969 & rfi=6

KINGSTON - The city is looking for a place to house court operations

following the discovery of significant levels of mold in the City

Court building on Garraghan Drive, where a renovation project less

than five years ago cost taxpayers $5.1 million.

Mayor Sottile said the court will have to be relocated for up

to eight weeks as the city seeks the source of the problem, makes

necessary repairs and cleans up the building, which served as City

Hall from 1972 to 2000.

After the city moved its municipal offices back into the old City

Hall building on Broadway in May 2000, it embarked on a plan to

renovate the Garraghan Drive building to house the court and police

headquarters. The court was moved to the New York Army National

Guard Armory on North Manor Avenue during the renovation, which

initially was projected to cost $1.8 million but wound up costing

$3.6 million by the time it was completed in December 2002. With

interest, the total cost was $5.1 million.

The renovation was designed by Crandell Associates, according to

Steve Finkle, director of the city Office for Economic Development.

City Comptroller Penny Radel said taxpayers are halfway through

paying off the debt.

Sottile said correcting the mold problem is likely to cost hundreds

of thousands of dollars. City taxpayers will foot the bill

initially, but Radel said the city is expected to be reimbursed by

the state Office of Court Administration.

" It is something that has to be dealt with, " Sottile said. " We have

to correct it and make sure that it doesn't happen again in the

future. ... We spent millions of dollars on this renovation and now

we have mold and we need to fix it. "

An engineering report prepared by ATC Associates last October

identified the mold problem.

" Based on the visual inspection, air monitoring and the microbial

air sampling results conducted by ATC ... the first floor of

courthouse (judge's bench, storage room, and security checkpoint)

has elevated levels of penicillium/aspergillus mold types, " the

report said. " There are visible fungal reservoirs located with in

the courtroom and storage rooms. "

The engineering firm traced the mold to the heating, ventilation and

air conditioning system for that area of the courthouse. It

recommended cleaning the courtroom and a more detailed inspection of

the heating and cooling system.

City Judge T. Feeney said fungus is " all over the place. " He

said the main courtroom will have to be relocated but that staff

members still can still work on the second floor.

Feeney, who is retiring at the end of March, hopes a temporary site

for the court will be found in the next couple of weeks.

" Any time you have to move, it is an inconvenience, but we have a

resilient staff and this won't be for a fantastically long period of

time, " the judge said.

The plan to renovate the Garraghan Drive building first surfaced in

1998 under the administration of the late Mayor T.R. Gallo. It was

in tandem with the plan to restore the old City Hall building, which

had stood vacant since 1972. After Gallo died in January 2002,

Sottile took over as mayor and the Garraghan Drive project was

completed the following December.

Finkle said a specific source of the mold has not yet been found. It

also is not yet clear whether the problem developed recently or over

a period of years.

The heating and cooling system was installed by C.B. Strain, which

bid $769,000 for the work. The city ended up paying less - about

$712,246, Radel said.

The state Office of Court Administration had long prodded the city

to renovate its court offices. The restoration of the 19th century

City Hall on Broadway was spurred in part by the state's demand for

increased court space.

The courtroom and court offices occupy the right side of the

Garraghan Drive building as one comes through the main entrance. The

police department, where officers long has complained about poor

working conditions, now occupies the other side of the building.

City Police Chief Gerald Keller said this week that the mold problem

has not affected the police headquarters.