After both the library and the town meeting room were found to have mold in their ventilation system the town has announce the repairs and remediation in the meeting room are complete.
The meeting room will now reopen for governmental and school meetings as well as community events.
The library was reopened on Monday November 5 but town Manager Quinn Robertson said there was some extra work that needed to be completed in the meeting room which delayed opening that side of the building.
The issues with the mold were discovered in late September, after staff at the Colonial Beach Library noticed black specs forming around the air vents in the library and on the carpets directly in the path of air flow of the vents.
The town received those reports and hired Fist Call Environmental LLC in Ashland to conduct air quality testing. The results came back positive for Cladosporium.
On October 1 the town sent out the following message through emails, texts and phone calls through the town’s emergency alert system; “The Town Meeting Center and Cooper Library are closed for maintenance work until further notice, due to mold in the ventilation system. Once the work has been completed, an alert will be sent out that the buildings are reopened.”
Because it was declared as an emergency, procurement procedures would allow the town to select one company according to Director of Public Works, Rob Murphy, however the staff wanted to give three businesses the opportunity to make a bid.
The winning bid came in at $47,000.00. When the work began staff were informed that it was possible that further damage could be found so the Council has approved spending in the amount of, and not to exceed $60,000.00.
Work on the project began on October 22 and the company had 8 days to complete the work. If there was more damage found after the affected walls were removed the town would extend the time frame for completion.
In the interim, the Cooper Branch Library opened a satellite branch at Colonial Beach Baptist Church on Monday, October 15 to offer limited library services.
The remediation was completed and the Library reopened, however the extensive damage to remove the mold made repair work in the meeting room take longer, however the work was completed within the budge according to Robertson.
The Colonial Beach Town Council will meet on Saturday (Dec 8 2018) for their December Work Session beginning at 8:00 a.m.
The council has announced a special meeting for the Audit Presentation, which will be held right before their regular meeting scheduled on Wednesday, December 19, 2018. The Special Meeting will begin at 5:00 p.m. and the Regular Meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m.
All future meetings will be held at the town center at 22 Washington Ave.
Colonial Beach News 