Photo by Lester Smith
A diagram of the molecular structure of the culprit in the library project delay: polychlorinated biphenyl – a popular plasticizer until it was outlawed in 1979.
Work to balance the airflow among the many individual air registers in the two-years-closed Kent Memorial Library has achieved some success, but not enough to meet the design specifications, and the HVAC contractor reports no hope of appreciable further improvement. So a modification in the specifications to meet that reality has been defined. That “mod” must be approved by State building officials before “airflow balance” can be considered satisfactory. Inasmuch as most of the building is configured as one big space sharing the same atmosphere, the Permanent Building Committee is optimistic that the “mod” will be approved.
Then attention can be directed toward the series of tests proposed by expert environmental consultant Robert May of Fuss & O’Neill. The tests are expected to take several weeks. Then, if in fact the source of the PCB contamination in the library’s air can be identified, a remediation program must be defined and priced. And then, somehow, a funding source must be found, as there are no appreciable funds left in the project’s budget beyond what has been committed to the Fuss & O’Neill program.
The temporary library’s planned move to the Suffield Senior Center described in the Observer last month is still not expected until next year and may be affected by changes in the program schedule for renovating and expanding the Town Hall. But that’s another story.