Asbestos adds to art building woes

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Asbestos adds to art building woes

Webster officials not sure if company hired to remove year-old mold

from the Visual Arts Studio actually completed work

By: Forder

The Journal - The News Source for Webster University

Issue date: 2/8/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Lanz Banes

http://www.webujournal.com/home/index.cfm?

event=displayArticle & uStory_id=ee3e350c-34f9-4ead-b386-815babbb593b

Mold is still visible after nearly a year on this pipe in the

basement of the Visual Arts Building, despite Webster's hiring of a

company to remove mold.

Wellington Environmental, a company Webster hired summer 2006 to

clean up mold in the basement of the art building, found asbestos

insulation in the piping that was torn and exposed. Debbie

Quargnanti, an office assistant at Wellington, said according to

records of the mold work, she doesn't think Webster hired Wellington

to take care of the asbestos.

Members of Webster's facilities operations who handled the project

could not be reached by press time Feb. 6 to confirm whether the

asbestos had been removed.

The Journal ran a story March 2006 about problems with the condition

of the Visual Arts Studio. These problems included lack of

ventilation in the studios and photo darkroom, lack of lighting in

the sculpture studio and rainwater leaking into several studios.

Since that time, improvements have been made, but some of the

problems are ongoing.

Stone said Webster hired Wellington to clean up the mold during

summer 2006. In addition, Stone said Webster had done air sampling

of the area and found that none of the mold levels were considered

too high. Stone attributed the mold to a water leak from a

mechanical unit as well as a broken water line.

The mold on the pipes, however, has not been removed in the last

year. Stone said he thought both the walls and pipes had been

cleaned up.

" It's something I should have looked at, " Stone said, admitting he

should have made sure Wellington's work was completed.

Stone then checked his records and said in a second interview that

all the work Wellington completed was in the boiler and mechanical

rooms in the basement of the art building. He said he is unsure why

the pipes are still in their current condition. Any further records

for this job are in storage because they are from the last fiscal

year, Stone said, but he said he would make sure the job was

completed.

" We want to make sure we didn't pay them (Wellington) for work they

didn't do, " Stone said.

Stone said he left a message with Wellington and will examine the

contract and records.

Quargnanti said according to the company's records, Wellington was

supposed to remove mold-contaminated dry wall from the floor up 2

feet on both sides of the wall. The company was then supposed to

clean and disinfect the rest of the wall and space.

" As far as I know, that's all we were supposed to do, " Quargnanti

said.

Quargnanti was unsure whether Webster or Wellington decided what

needed to be worked on. She said Bill Talbert, vice president of

Wellington, would be able to determine that, but she said because he

is rarely in the office, the newspaper would " probably not be able

to talk to him. "

In addition to problems with mold in the basement, in the 2006

article art students had cited other concerns with the building. A

major concern in the March 2006 article was the lack of ventilation

in the photo darkroom, but no changes have been made to the

darkroom, Stone said.

" There are a long list of things that are problematic about

darkrooms … We are taking a look at that, " Stone said, referring to

health risks involved with lack of ventilation for a darkroom.

Ben Beaury, a senior alternative media art major, cites some changes

to the building, including new lighting in the sculpture studio in

fall 2006 and the addition of a new " smart room " - a presentation

room that has been equipped with a computer and projector.

Stone said a new art building probably won't be in the works for

another nine or 10 years.

Caroline Palmer, president of the student art group, the Webster Art

Coalition, said she would like to know there's a plan in place to do

something about the condition of the building. She said she is

concerned about the lack of space in the studios and posed the idea

of building on to the existing building to provide more space. She

said, despite the building's problems, the students' art is not

negatively effected.

" The building itself, there are problems with it and it does leak

and stuff like that, but I think the group of artists that work in

it aren't bothered by it, " said Palmer, a senior painting

major. " It's not limiting the work that's being done there. Artists

work with what they have. "

The building was built in 1960 as a temporary elementary school and

has been adapted as a permanent art facility for Webster.