Town council approved an ordinance on second reading Monday, Feb. 22 to set aside $160,000 — $152,000 of which will be borrowed — to be used for the removal of asbestos from the old library building. With this addition, the library demolition costs increased by about 20 percent, to $600,000.
At the previous council meeting, township engineer James Ruddiman assured council there wasn’t much that could have been done earlier to find the asbestos, as it was found two feet underground and destructive testing would have had to been done, which would have been an additional cost regardless.
“There was no way to see this coming,” Mayor Phil Garwood said. “We’re stuck with this.”
The original contract awarded to Meco Demolition Inc. in October last year was for $421,000. The township initially put aside $10,000 for asbestos remediation because it expected to find asbestos in the floor tiles and the fire doors, according to Ruddiman.
“We set aside $10,000 for known asbestos, and another $2,000 for the investigation,” Councilwoman Lisa Petriello said.
The project was delayed due to more asbestos being discovered in the adhesive tape used to glue the ceiling tiles to the roof and behind the walls. Council approved a $70,000 change order to remove the asbestos in December, and official demolition started in early January.
Following the remediation and demolition, additional asbestos was discovered in a two-foot area on three sides of the basement wall, and the entire basement wall on the fourth side. The contractor said it could remediate the asbestos for $159,412.96.
Ruddiman said the additional asbestos would not have been able to be found without the township ripping up tiles and tearing down walls prior to demolition.
He also said there was no reason to believe there would have been so much asbestos in the old library, as the old town hall was built at the same time by the same construction company, but the old town hall didn’t have nearly the amount of asbestos that was discovered in the old library building.
Council, after doing research and asking additional questions, came to the conclusion this was the best solution for now. If council were to go out to bid for another contractor or lower bid, there was no guarantee the bid would be lower and there would be additional costs for demobilization and remobilization.
“If we vote no, we delay the project by potentially months and incur (potential) additional costs… If we vote yes, the project can be finished on time and it is likely to be less… I considered all known possibilities, and going ahead with the recommendation will save us money,” Petriello said.
“No one is thrilled… but this is asbestos and we have to remove it,” Deputy Mayor Victoria Napolitano said.
After public and council comments, council unanimously approved the ordinance.
In other news:
• Certificate of Recognitions were given to Ernest Agresto and Peter Bahr who were on the Library Board of Trustees and sadly passed away late last year.
• Council approved the transfer of a retail liquor consumption license from Vetri Jersey LLC to Catelli Duo Moorestown LLC.
