Mold at New PD

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In a message dated 5/7/2006 10:09:30 AM Pacific Standard Time,

tigerpaw2c@... writes:

Gilroy Dispatch (subscription) - Gilroy,CA

Did you all know that Gilroy is the Garlic Capital of the world? Love that

place! It always smells like garlic. All the restaurants cook with garlic.

And you can get some of the best and freshest garlic while in Gilroy. Guess

it's easy to see, I love garlic!

Sharon

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Mold at New PD

Friday, May 05, 2006

http://www.gilroydispatch.com/news/contentview.asp?c=185073

By kristen munson and serdar tumgoren Staff Writers

Gilroy Dispatch (subscription) - Gilroy,CA

Gilroy - Heavy rainfall this winter and an unfinished rooftop

combined to cause moldy conditions at the new C.J. Laizure Police

Station. City officials say they aren't paying for the removal and

replacement of the moldy sheet rock and that contractor SJ Amoroso

Construction is on the hook.

The recent snag has pushed back the move-in date for police another

two months to November, but when the abatement is complete later

this week the building will be safe for employees, city officials

said.

" We're paying millions of dollars for a new building - we're not

going to put up with one mold spore, " said Assistant Police Chief

Lanny Brown, co-construction manager for the project. " The last

thing that we want to happen is what happened in the San

courthouse, " citing the 1999 closure of the 4-year-old $7.5 million

government building due to mold.

After mold and water-damaged sheet rock was discovered in January,

officials contacted industrial hygienists to examine the site and

hired environmental engineers to perform tests.

" As soon as it was evident that we had mold we called in the

hygienists, " said Bill Headley, facilities and parks manager. " To

us, this is like buying a new car. We want to make sure we're not

driving it off the lot with old tires. I don't want anybody thinking

we're getting anything less than a brand new facility. "

The 48,900-square-foot, $26.2 million facility was on pace to open

in September after a $100,000 mistake in the roof was discovered

late last October. Construction was delayed by a month. City

officials have said SJ Amoroso will foot the bill for the blunder.

Mold was discovered on portions of all four exterior walls with the

north wall hit the hardest, Brown said.

A report from Innovative Technical Solutions, Inc., the engineering

firm who performed the mold tests in March, recommended that any

wallboard impacted by mold be replaced and remediation performed on

plastered walls that did not exhibit mold growth.

The report allowed city officials the ammunition to go back to the

contractor to have the material replaced, Headley said.

" (It was) confirming what we already knew was there, " he said. " So

we can hold (Amoroso) accountable and say that there was an issue.

We're not taking the building until it's absolutely replaced. "

According to Headley, leaks around the perimeter from the unfinished

portions of the roof, and failure to properly seal the walls before

construction workers left for Christmas break caused a perfect

environment for mold to grow once winter storms struck.

On Jan. 5, Assistant Chief Brown was contacted to come check out the

site - where he observed visible water damage and a mold growing on

some of the panels.

" The first question I asked is - is there any health hazards to

workers? " he said.

Exposure to some forms of mold can cause asthma and respiratory

problems for individuals allergic to the spores.

Most of the water damage occurred on the outside of the building,

however, there was minor damage to the inside, Brown said.

After all damaged panels are replaced, areas where there are no

organic compounds for mold to feed on will be wiped down with

disinfectant solutions.

The city has set a hard line with Amoroso regarding responsibility

for the latest snag, Brown said.

" They're under contractual duty to protect their work, " he

said. " We've made it clear to them that it's on them. Right now they

are behaving very responsibly ... We are looking at this as a zero

cost to us. "

However, Brown admitted there is the possibility that Amoroso

officials could argue that a portion of the cost, or the total cost

be split.

SJ Amoroso project manager and project superintendent's both

declined to comment Thursday, citing company policy.

All of the sheet rock panels on the north wall was replaced, Headley

said. Portions of the other three were replaced with material that

is more waterproof.

" Anything that was water damaged was removed and replaced. As far as

I'm concerned it's a done deal, " he said. " It was a protection of

work issue. Certainly if the roof was completed earlier it would

have helped. "

The cost of removing and replacing the panels is unknown at this

point.

While the setbacks are frustrating, Brown does not believe the

problems are the result of any malice on the part of the contractors.

" I have this wish and desire things would have gone perfectly to

plan, " he said. " But what I learned in law enforcement - the moment

you start implementing your very best plan, your plan starts

changing. "

[Guest guest]

snk1955@... wrote:

> Did you all know that Gilroy is the Garlic Capital of the world?

Love that place! It always smells like garlic. All the

restaurants cook with garlic. And you can get some of the best

and freshest garlic while in Gilroy. Guess it's easy to see, I love

garlic!

> Sharon

Me too, but about the best I can say for the garlic ice cream at

the Gilroy Garlic Festival is that it wasn't quite as horrible as I

thought it was going to be.

My Dad lives in that area, not far from the Santa Clara Justice

center that has been abandoned for so many years, and driving around

is running the gauntlet of spore plumes. My Dad is used to me and

knows certain places we have to avoid getting close to, - like the

Pajaro high school.

As we run into his friends and he introduces me, it is getting to

be quite ususal to pick up some new mold stories: a very dramatic

change from only a few years ago when talking about mold failed to

generate any interest or recognition that it could be anything more

than an allergic nuisance.

How did you feel as you were roaming around Gilroy?

Did you try the ice cream?

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