APPRO-2024-38 : Requesting an appropriation from Free Cash in the amount of $75,000 (Seventy Five Thousand Dollars) to Public Works Accounts (#402) as set forth herein and for Asbestos Remediation at Various City Schools

Transcript (~9 min @ 42:37)

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▶ 42:23 Speaker 1: Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor Gpe? Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Van Nicaro? Yes. President Elli? Yes. And Chair Jamal Dean? Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

▶ 42:37 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Next we have appropriation 2024 dash 38 requesting an appropriation from pre cash in the amount of 70 th uh, $75,000 to Public Works account number 4 0 2 set forth, uh, herein and for asbestos recommendation, um, at various city schools.

▶ 43:03 Maya Jamaleddine: I am, it's the floor is yours. I'm worried that we are gonna be out of free cash very soon because of DPW

▶ 43:12 Speaker 5: $8 and 21 cents. Um, we only requested what the mayor's office told us we were allowed to request, so we're not making it go in the red. We know that. Um, so this request is $75,000 for asbestos abatement work in schools. We try to do asbestos abatement annually. This is actually another item that's in our capital improvement plan request as an annual allocation similar to the sidewalk, similar to the trees. Um, so ideally we would have money set aside each year for asbestos removal for as long as there still remains asbestos containing materials in our buildings. Um, the issue with schools, obviously, um, we're very sensitive to any hazardous materials that might be in schools, especially where the floor tiles can become fryable if they start to peel up. Um, and we need to fully isolate those spaces in order to do the asbestos removal. So it has to be done when the school is completely unoccupied. We can't just, you know, cordon off a classroom and remove asbestos while school is in session. So this is an annual program in the summers. Um, our most recent asbestos removal is I believe, through arpa. Correct That, so that's why we haven't been before the council the last couple years with this same request. But this is an annual need. Um, the classroom in the Franklin that's below the roof where the roof has been leaking, there's asbestos in the ceiling there, and I believe the floor tiles are still asbestos. So our plan is to fully remediate that room since we're gonna have to, um, renovate that room anyway once the roof is fixed.

▶ 44:52 Speaker 5: Um, I think it's the Horseman. Um, yeah, horseman only has two floors left in the entire school that contain asbestos. That doesn't mean there'll be no asbestos left in the school. There's still pipe insulation and um, you know, there might be masick in the, in something, you know, the glue of the ceiling tiles or something. But the flooring, which has been probably the biggest issue in the schools because those tiles do sometimes come up over the course of the year just from wear and tear. Um, these will be the last two in horseman and then the Winthrop, um, has a couple of rooms that we're also gonna do the floors.

▶ 45:32 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you Councilor Ro. Okay.

▶ 45:34 Speaker 1: Um, how many schools, like

▶ 45:37 Cal Finocchiaro: how much asbestos do we have that we could remediate again, I guess this goes off their questions before, like what would you need to then remove, remediate all asbestos? Um, I know that's probably a big question here, but,

▶ 45:52 Speaker 5: Well, let's see. I I, this won't be the answer to the amount we need to remove all asbestos, but this will at least be what we have said.

▶ 46:02 Cal Finocchiaro: Um, I mean, I know from what I understand, once it's contained and like not loose particles, it's deemed safe. Yeah, absolutely. But

▶ 46:09 Speaker 5: Right. Um, so we, we had said a hundred thousand a year in the CIP that would be our request. It's also, you know, you can't, you can't bite off more than you can chew in a summer. Right. So while we could probably do $500,000 worth of asbestos removal, we probably can't realistically do that in one summer. So we put in for a hundred thousand a year. Um, but as you said, the, the floor tiles, if they're not peeling up, they're not considered fryable, they're safe. Um, it's once you start disturbing the material that it, that becomes airborne and then it can

▶ 46:43 Cal Finocchiaro: Become a hatch. Yeah. Those pipe, the pipe thing, the covers, those are, uh, like I know those kind of deteriorate faster. Yeah, I know the probably kids aren't around those as much because they're probably in like

▶ 46:52 Speaker 5: Yeah. So the more recent pipe insulation, we have pipe insulation all over the place in schools, especially coming in and out of radiators and things, that's all newer pipe insulation that's like pipe wrap that you'd get at Um, but the, the old asbestos pipe insulation tends to be the stuff in the basements around piping through the basement around old, you know, sometimes they're old hot water heaters or something that has that an asbestos wrap around it. Um, and then like I said, there's all sorts of little things you wouldn't think of window caulking or, or tile glue or, um, you know, glue that holds down shingles on a roof, all sorts of little things that can have asbestos. So every time we renovate we have everything tested and then we know if we need to isolate and uh, and remove.

▶ 47:39 Cal Finocchiaro: And obviously you're sub-contracting out. It's this company that comes in does, does all

▶ 47:44 Speaker 5: This. Yeah. Very specialized. Not something we do in that.

▶ 47:47 Speaker 1: Okay. Thanks. Thank you.

▶ 47:49 Maya Jamaleddine: I have Councilor Stewart next, uh, vice Chair Williams.

▶ 47:52 Speaker 4: Thank you Madam Chair. Are there any

▶ 47:56 Robb Stewart: reported health issues, um, from either student or faculty in any of the schools that have asbestos?

▶ 48:04 Speaker 5: Not that I'm aware of. Not in the time I've been here, no.

▶ 48:08 Robb Stewart: Okay. Um, so, so far so good and we'll just continue the path. Okay. Thank you Mr.

▶ 48:17 Ryan Williams: Chair Williams. Do we contract with somebody to do the asbestos removal? Yes. Who do we contract with?

▶ 48:22 Speaker 5: We either, uh, look for somebody on a state bid list or we, last year we went out to bid for competitive bids from certified asbestos removal.

▶ 48:30 Ryan Williams: And these, because there's tons of regulations around asbestos removal, these folks are always very well trained. They know how to

▶ 48:36 Speaker 5: Dispose trained. Yeah. They get DEP permits, all of that. They

▶ 48:39 Ryan Williams: Come in in the suits, everything whole night.

▶ 48:41 Speaker 5: Yeah. And last year and um, I'm not sure if we're gonna use the same contractor this year, but typically we also have a consultant who last year they were the ones who put the bid documents together. They were on site inspecting the isolation, the way things are taped off Mm-Hmm. In the rooms and all that, the, the air pressure, you know, all of it. Um, they come and inspect before the work starts. Yeah.

▶ 49:01 Speaker 4: That's awesome. Thank you. Thank you.

▶ 49:03 Maya Jamaleddine: Any other question? Councilor Vandiver?

▶ 49:09 Kimberly Vandiver: Um, are there any non-school buildings that DPW maintains where this is an issue as well? Or is this concentrated? The schools,

▶ 49:17 Speaker 5: Certainly City Hall has asbestos.

▶ 49:22 Speaker 5: Um, trying to think. I mean, milano guessing likely

▶ 49:24 Speaker 4: The basic, the basic assumption is just assume the age of the building. Right. And the building components that they were constructed with, it was a common, it was a common, uh, part of the, the building construction. So it's a safe assumption that the majority of the older buildings are gonna have some form of asbestos in there. And I had just typed out to Elena, one thing that we are very proactive with is we have annual asbestos awareness training for our custodial facility staff. So they're able to identify potential hazards and be able to react very quickly. I think that's an important thing to say to a few of the points that have been made to make sure that our students, our teachers, our faculty, are all safe in the buildings and it's not an imminent threat. Mm-Hmm

▶ 50:12 Speaker 5: Mm-Hmm. And Jay McNeil is also asbestos certified too, so.

▶ 50:16 Kimberly Vandiver: Oh, great. Yeah. And, and so, um, I guess my other question then is with future funding or additional funding, is that something where you would expand the scope? I mean, it seems like schools are priority because of the number of People. People and because it's children. And

▶ 50:29 Speaker 5: Certainly if, um, if we had more money we would do more. Especially when we're already in school and we're already isolating areas. It's easy if, you know, if there are six classrooms off a hallway that all have asbestos tiles, if we're able to do all of them at once and then we can isolate just once, that saves money in the long run.

▶ 50:46 Speaker 1: Okay. Great.

▶ 50:50 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you councilor Ro

▶ 50:51 Cal Finocchiaro: I just have one more question. So after the remediation is done, do they, do you guys have like the, an agency that comes in and like tests and make sure that it's gone? Do they do that or

▶ 51:00 Speaker 4: That's the final part of the process is a hygienist will come in, perform swipes, and then test to make sure everything has been remediated properly and up to scope.

▶ 51:10 Speaker 1: Okay. Alright. Thanks.

▶ 51:13 Maya Jamaleddine: Any other question? Okay.

▶ 51:18 Speaker 2: What is the will of the committee, Madam Chair,

▶ 51:20 Speaker 4: make a motion to recommend to the full council.

▶ 51:23 Maya Jamaleddine: Second, have a motion to recommend, uh, made by Councilor Stewart. Um, seconded. Second By Councilor Pen Chiro on discussion. Seeing none, Mr. Kirk,

▶ 51:36 Speaker 1: Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor gpe. Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councillor Naro. Yes. President? Yes. And Chair Jamal Dean? Yes. A motion passes unanimously.

▶ 51:52 Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you.