POWNAL — The Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration has closed out an indoor air quality complaint concerning the Pownal town offices.
Stephen Monahan, director of the Division of Workers’ Compensation and Safety at the state Department of Labor, said Friday that the town’s written response to the March complaint notice brought a resolution of the matter.
The complaint was submitted to VOSHA by an unidentified person March 8. According to the notification, it alleged “mold throughout building and mildew under the building,” and claimed that exit signs were not up to code.
VOSHA told the Selectboard the town was required to respond to the complaint, providing supporting documents and information on the situation and any corrective action taken.
Selectboard member Ronald Bisson said in March that the town had recently addressed moisture issues, including installation of dehumidifiers and air filtering equipment and other work on a section of the offices that is lacking a full concrete foundation.
Tom Shuey, the town transfer station supervisor, who is retired from a career as a contractor, advised the town in hiring contractors for the work on the offices. He said in March that he worked with the board to bring in an engineering firm to assess air quality and moisture issues and then to hire other contractors to perform the work according to those specifications.
The project included laying down a vapor barrier under the section lacking a foundation.
The board’s response letter to VOSHA, which Shuey helped prepare, says an air quality service was hired to provide an assessment of the town building and what was needed to remedy any issues.
The work listed included sanitizing carpeting and applying a mold retardant; replacing rotted supports with pressure-treated lumber; hiring contractors to spray wood structures in a crawl space with mold control; installing a dehumidifier in the crawl space with an exterior drain; adding exterior vents and an exhaust fan; and installing two air purifiers and a new dehumidifier in the town clerk’s records vault.
Exit signs, smoke detectors and emergency lighting were replaced in 2015, according to the letter.
Town officials had questioned the timing of the complaint, as it came one day after voters rejected a proposal to continue planning a new town hall near the current site costing up to $911,000.
Pownal has sought for nearly 25 years to replace the current cramped office and meeting space, most of which dates to 1928. A large addition was added at the rear of the structure during the 1970s.
