Like so many other optimistic expectations in the PCB remediation program at the Kent Memorial Library, the abatement work plan submitted by contractor AAIS for review by the Environmental Protection Administration did not gain the agency’s approval as quickly as hoped. Approval came on Friday afternoon, October 14, and contractor AAIS was on site with a number of employees to begin work on the following Monday morning.
Prior to that, all the asbestos-bearing material had been removed, and AAIS personnel had put some effort on activities short of the actual grit blasting and scraping that will remove the contaminated coating from the building’s waffled ceilings. Among other tasks, they made preparations for the plastic barriers that would be necessary to isolate the work areas. In addition, Bloomfield electric has been completing the removal of conduits that covered surfaces to be blasted clean of their coating.
Asked about the certified drawings needed for the Building Inspector’s approval of the new fire sprinkler installation, Facilities Director Julie Oakes said that the current lack of those drawings will not hold up the general project completion.
Financial matters regarding the library project were adjusted in the Board of Finance’s September 10 decision to combine the balances of Fiscal Year 2017/18 library capital projects and transfer the combined $269,563 to the Kent Memorial Library Renovation and Entrance Project Fund.
As mentioned in earlier reports, there is still work to be done after the PCB problem is corrected, and the move itself will take some time.
To this reporter it’s beginning to look as if the library might settle back into “the Big House” sometime this winter.