Mold at Lawrence Road Firehouse to be Removed

The agenda for this evening’s (Oct. 4) Lawrence Township Council meeting – to be held at the municipal building at 7 p.m. – is available in the media box to the right or by clicking here. A memo about the meeting from Township Manager Richard Krawczun is also available from the media box or by clicking here.

Five ordinances are on the agenda for introduction tonight, including two concerning the creation of the new position of “armed court attendant” who would provide security to the municipal court. This, in turn, would free up the uniformed police officer who normally is assigned to be present during court proceedings. Another ordinance being introduced tonight would increase the fees the township charges for dog licenses.

Another of the ordinances being introduced tonight concerns funding for the emergency road repairs that were made to . Township council adopted the ordinance at its last meeting on Sept. 20, but the ordinance needs to be reauthorized because a local newspaper failed to publish a required legal ad after the ordinance was introduced at the , according to Krawczun’s memo.

During that last meeting on Sept. 20 – in addition to hearing about and the – council also adopted an ordinance creating a mid-block pedestrian crosswalk on Craven Lane.

It was noted by Krawczun during that meeting that the township had consulted with the township school district, . Krawczun said the school district supported the crosswalk, which will be along the route many children take to go to Lawrenceville Elementary School.     

Two bids were also approved at the Sept. 20 council meeting – one for $185,402 to Gen II Contracting Inc. of Clarksburg for roof improvements to the Lawrence Community Center and Lawrenceville Fire Co. firehouse, and the other for $240,450 to Gres Paving Co. for repaving of Lawrence Station Road and paving of an area at the township public works facility on Bakers Basin Road that will be used for a future expansion of the road salt storage area.

More than a half-dozen resolutions were also adopted at the Sept. 20 meeting, including one supporting the township school district’s plan to install a network of fiber optic cables that will link township schools.

Also during the Sept. 20 meeting, Krawczun advised council members of a mold problem that was discovered this past summer at the Lawrence Road Fire Co. firehouse.

Mold was discovered in ceiling tiles in an area of the firehouse banquet hall below where a condensation pan for a roof-mounted air conditioning unit had been leaking, Krawczun told council. He said mold was also found in an area of the ceiling and walls in the men’s restroom of the firehouse banquet hall, below where holes had been punctured in the roof membrane by landscaping rocks that had been tossed onto the roof and subsequently stepped on over time.

Krawczun said the township hired an environmental cleanup company to test the areas to confirm that mold was present. After mold was confirmed and identified as a type known as basidiospores, the township entered into an emergency contract - costing $8,950 - to have the mold removed and areas cleaned.

Township officials learned of the possible presence of mold in the firehouse after two volunteer firefighters, who are brothers, each contracted a life-threatening respiratory infection in June. The brothers, both trustees of the fire company, had examined the wet ceiling tiles in the firehouse banquet hall not long before they became ill.

The brothers subsequently recovered from their illnesses. According to both township officials and the volunteer firefighters themselves, it was never determined how they contracted the infections and no definitive link to the firehouse was ever established.

“As the abatement [of the ceiling tiles and restroom] was being completed, one of the volunteer firefighters pointed out other locations in the building that were suspect to mold. At that point, we contracted with the same environmental company to do a complete assessment of the entire building. Additional locations were discovered to contain mold,” Krawczun said.

He said mold was found in the wall of the banquet hall that runs alongside Pilla Avenue, in a janitorial closet near the hall’s main entrance off Marlboro Road, and in one wall of the firefighters’ break room at the front of the firehouse along Route 206.

Krawczun said preliminary estimates are that repairs to all of those areas could cost $50,000. He said the township would be sending out a request for bids from contractors willing to undertake the mold remediation and repair of the affected areas. He said a preliminary check with the township’s insurance carrier suggests the work will not be covered by insurance.

The banquet hall of the firehouse remains closed at this time, however the firefighters’ break room continues to be used.

“I just wanted to advise you we are working to remediate this problem,” Krawczun told council.