Source: http://www.kxxv.com, February 6, 2012
By: Adam Shear
The City of Hewitt is planning to remove traces of asbestos from some of their buildings that they discovered when they began a renovation project.
The city found the traces of the hazardous material in the flooring of two bathrooms in their police department and in ceiling and some of the walls in the community services building. The city believes the asbestos was found due to the age of the buildings.
Texas state laws require that asbestos checks are done prior to any sort of building renovation. The city will remove the asbestos, which will cost them approximately $11,800, before continuing their $200,000 renovation plan of their city facilities.
“We’re taking the approach that we just really want to abate [the asbestos] and just get it out of the facilities,” said Hewitt City Manager Adam Miles. “It’s kind of funny, we anticipated there may be a little bit more in those older facilities and in our police department. Once we sampled it I was kind of surprised there was only a small quantity and I haven’t heard anyone that has come in and had any concerns about it being here.”
According to Miles the asbestos is not harmful to Hewitt employees and the removal process will also not affect their safety or productivity because of the precautionary measures they plan to take.
The city is renovating their buildings because they did not have enough of a budget to build new facilities. The city believes that eventually they will have to build new buildings.