Date: Fri 25-Oct-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDREA

Quick Words:

Booth-Library-asbestos

Full Text:

Firm Selected For Library Asbestos Work

B Y A NDREA Z IMMERMANN

Petco Insulation Company, an asbestos abatement contractor in West Haven, has

won the bid to remove the hazardous material detected in the 64-year-old

Cyrenius Booth Library building. It was scheduled to begin work October 24.

The entire clean-up should take about four weeks, according to Director of

Public Works Fred Hurley, who is coordinating the abatement.

Petco's base cost for the decontamination and abatement is $42,690 and

includes excavation of materials in the yard that need to be removed, as well

as efforts to minimize any decontamination that might occur from the

additional demolition work that is part of general construction.

Of the six contractors who bid, Acmat of New Britain was the second lowest at

$81,500; the highest bid on the project was $98,850.

"We really did do very well by casting a wide net," said Mr Hurley. Before

recommending Petco to do the job, the director of public works interviewed a

company representative to ensure he understood exactly what needed to be done.

"It was more like a pre-construction meeting. We went over everything... The

other people at the interview were Peter Cook from Hygenix, Library Director

Janet Woycik, Frank Krasnickas from the Building Committee, and Ed Callo who

is clerk of the works for the [library expansion] project."

Mrs Woycik expressed concern about the books being removed from the building

in some sort of order. It was agreed that the library will need to provide

staff to direct removal of materials, said Mr Hurley.

"This company has done [abatement at] libraries before and the others had not.

And they really did seem to understand what was involved in moving the books,"

said Mr Hurley. "They are also a call-contractor for the state's Department of

Health, so clearly they are acceptable for the state. Petco is one of the

older abatement contractors in the state; they've been in this field for over

12 years. We have a pretty good comfort level with them [after discussing the

specifications]."

The first week of abatement work will be concentrated in the building's

mechanical spaces. After the rooms are sealed off, construction contractors

will be able to enter those areas and continue work, said Mr Hurley. At that

time, BTI Construction will work in the boiler room to provide heat for the

building as soon as possible.