Conshohocken is looking into renting temporary office space if Borough Hall has to close for mold removal.

Anticipating the need to remove mold that has contaminated Borough Hall, Conshohocken officials are looking for temporary office space.

The issue is expected to be discussed at 7 o'clock tonight as part of a public budget session before the Borough Council, said Sandra Caterbone, the board's president.

"We put out feelers to see if there were leased premises where we could go," Caterbone said Monday. "No one has said we should evacuate, but when we remediate, yes, of course we will."

One proposal under consideration is a one-year lease of 5,000 square feet in the vacant Hale Products Inc. building at 308 E. Seventh Ave., according to a borough memo dated Oct. 28. The rent would be $10 a square foot, the memo said.

Borough Manager Jack Heleniak, who is collecting the bids and is expected to present them to the council tonight, would not confirm the figure or discuss the proposal.

The memo lists at least three other properties: One First Avenue, and Millennium I and Six Tower Bridge, both on Washington Street near the Schuylkill.

Space available for rental in the three buildings ranges from 5,000 to 6,500 square feet, the memo said. The leases would cost between $22.50 and $28.50 a square foot.

Caterbone said the move to find alternative quarters for borough employees followed a 4-2 vote by the Borough Council last Wednesday to order a third study of the mold situation at Borough Hall, a Victorian building at Eighth Avenue and Fayette Street in the heart of the small riverside community.

One study was conducted in 2002, and a second was submitted earlier this year after several borough employees said that mold in their offices was making them sick. No one has filed a formal complaint, Caterbone said.

The Montgomery County Health Department declined to become involved, and there is no federal standard for dangerous mold levels in buildings, said Bonnie J. Smith, a spokeswoman for the Environmental Protection Agency.
Consultant Eagle Industrial Hygiene Association Inc. of Horsham will be paid $800 to read the previous reports, inspect the building for mold and moisture, collect and analyze air samples, and prepare a proposal for fixing the problem, if one is needed, said Eagle's marketing director, Peter Rollman.

The firm would then recommend others to remove the mold, he said.

The 2004 report, conducted after some mold was removed, recommended that part of the hall should be probed for hidden contamination and that the mold be removed, at a likely cost of more than $300,000. The borough paid $11,320 for the two studies.

Caterbone said a third study was needed because "everybody had a different read" on the first two. Councilman Jack Coll, who voted against further study with Vince Totaro, strongly disagreed.

Coll said the first two studies "were very clear. Are we just waiting for someone to give us what we want to hear, that nothing's wrong?"

Coll said he favored leasing space for the borough's 12 workers at the Hale property.

The public meeting tonight will be held in the conference room at Borough Hall, one area identified by consultants as mold-infested.

The mold has since been removed and the affected spots painted over.

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