Mold disclosure angers ACC trustees

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Mold disclosure angers ACC trustees

College officials knew South Austin building had spores before board signed

on to buy it

By

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Tuesday, September 10, 2002

Austin Community College spent $2.2 million on a building for its planned

South Austin campus, but it'll have to spend another $56,000 to free it of

mold.

College officials confirmed last week that the building, a former

Albertson's at 1820 W. Stassney Lane, tested positive for mold, a disclosure

that angered some trustees.

Board members approved the purchase in November 2001. Some trustees say they

are furious that top ACC administrators, including President Fonté,

were aware of the mold problem as early as September 2001 but did not tell

the board until months after the sale of the building was final, in March.

At least six of the college's nine trustees said they didn't learn about the

mold until late last week, when college officials sent an e-mail informing

them, along with selected faculty and staff members, the day after a

reporter called to ask about the problem.

ACC spokesman Ed Osborn, speaking on Fonté's behalf, said college

administrators didn't think the problem was serious enough to share with the

board.

" I don't know if this is the kind of thing we would report to the entire

college as an issue because we don't necessarily see it as an issue, " Osborn

said.

Trustee , a real estate agent who represented the college on

the building contract before he was elected to the board in June, said he

did not know the building had mold at the time of the sale or that trustees

needed to be told if he had known. 's company, McAllister &

Associates, received a commission of $40,000 for the sale, ACC officials

said.

Other trustees said they should have been told about the mold before they

agreed to buy the building.

" I'm disturbed that we weren't told, " Trustee Worley said.

At least one trustee said the news might have affected her vote.

" We would certainly need to abate and take care of (the mold), but that

certainly would have weighed in my mind, " Beverly Watts said. " I'm

sure it would have weighed on the board's mind. "

Administrators said they have discovered only small amounts of mold in the

building, a former Albertson's grocery across from Crockett High School.

They say cleanup will cost about $56,000 and will take three weeks to

finish -- an estimate confirmed by the company hired to clean up the mess.

The college had been looking for a site for a possible seventh campus since

1999. Officials settled on the former Albertson's for $2.2 million. At the

time, administrators said the building's location was attractive and that it

would be cheaper to renovate a building than to build a new one.

The college used a student building fee to get revenue bonds to buy the

property, but voters must approve a bond issue to raise the roughly $10

million it will cost to renovate the building and open the campus. A bond

election is expected in the spring.

College officials knew about the mold as early as a year ago, when Bronson

Dorsey, an associate vice president of facilities and operations, saw mold

colonies growing on the back walls of the building during a routine

inspection. The college did not do a mold analysis until June, however,

after an employee complained.

That testing showed the presence of spores consistent with the

Aspergillus-Penicillium and the Stachybotrys strains of mold. Stachybotrys

has made headlines as a possible cause of health problems.

The employee, ACC project manager Rod Dal Sasso, said exposure to the

building made him sick.

Dorsey said officials did not test for mold earlier because they planned to

remove it after seeing it on the walls.

" Our policy is, whenever we find mold, we take measures to get rid of it, "

he said. " Whether anyone gets sick or not, we do whatever we can as quickly

as we can to get rid of it and to avoid anybody being exposed to it. "

The tests, conducted by Bolton Laboratories, also found that the

Stachybotrys was not airborne, meaning the health risk from exposure isn't

as great. Mold spore levels inside the building were lower than those found

outside the building, the report showed.

On Monday, the company hired to do the cleanup said the presence of mold was

significant, but said the cost and time allotted for cleanup is on target.

" It's kind of hard to tell until you actually start doing the job. (The

mold) has a tendency to grow, " said Don , an estimator with ARC

Abatement Inc. " It's right in the middle. I've seen worse. "

From 50 to 75 people, including Dal Sasso, have worked in or near the

building since it was purchased. On several occasions, Dal Sasso said, he

had difficulty breathing and became nauseous and dizzy while working inside

the building.

Dal Sasso missed several days of work and filed a workers' compensation

claim, which was denied. He later hired an environmental firm to test the

building at his own expense. That test found a more serious problem.

Osborn disputed those results and said there was no evidence that the mold

caused Dal Sasso's illness.

ACC's test results showed that the amount of mold was so slight that only

people who are extremely sensitive to it would have been affected, Osborn

said. Two other people have said they did not have any problems even though

they considered themselves sensitive to mold. Administrators also followed

standard procedures and guidelines established by the Environmental

Protection Agency in setting up the cleanup, he said.

An advisory group helping with the planning of the South Austin campus wants

the problem taken care of promptly.

" I'm disappointed that it will cost more money to get it up and running, "

said Guadalupe Sosa, co-chair of the South Austin Community Advisory

Committee. " We really need this campus in South Austin. We were hoping to

get it running as quickly as possible. "

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