City of Webster City issued the following announcement on October 20.
Members of the Wilson Brewer Park Committee heard a report Tuesday morning from representatives of Mustang Disaster Cleanup, the contractor that has been working on mold remediation.
Spencer Downey, general manager of the firm, said the work should be completed yet this week.
“Right now, we have good news. All the contents that we were able to save have been cleaned or at least have been put into totes,” he said. “Today and tomorrow we plan on doing some painting and sanitizing and the final clean and walk-through.”
Downey said all of the artifacts that have been cleaned and sanitized are now stored on the north side of the depot basement.
“Once we finish up, the building will basically be deemed safe,” he said.
Mustang Disaster Services has been working in two buildings at the park. They started with the basement of the old courthouse and removed mold that had developed there. When the crews moved to the depot, more mold than originally expected was found in the basement. The crew had planned to remove drywall and clean up through the floodline — about four feet from the ground. Mold was found beneath the sheetrock in the basement and into the rafters of the ceilings, Larry Flaws, director of recreation and public grounds, told the City Council in September.
Downey said the upper level of the Depot had displayed very low levels of mold.
“We’ve tried to keep a lot of negative air and pull stuff away from the upstairs,” he said. “I feel perfectly comfortable walking into the top floor without a mask. I’m pretty sensitive to that stuff and I haven’t had any issues.”
Downey will do exit testing once the work is complete. He said due to holes in the building, which have mostly been sealed, he said the readings could be slightly elevated.
“But I have a suspicion it would be at a safe levels,” he said.
“So the air quality will be tested before we have people going in there,” Flaws said.
Part of the artifacts from the basement are several totes full of soft goods, mostly clothing. Bob Oliver, part of the depot subcommittee, recommended donating the clothing to the Women’s Club for the Jane Young House Vintage Clothing Exhibit.
Darlene Dingman, another committee member and a member of the Women’s Club, said, pending her board’s approval, the club would be interested in women’s clothing and would be willing to sort through the totes outside to check for damage.
In other committee business, Leonard Curits shared some Civil War era photographs that had been donated by Scott Tapper. In near pristine condition, the large-format photos have now been placed in the protective sleeves, Curtis told the committee.
Chairman Gary Groves also told the board about an upcoming Pioneer Christmas event on Dec. 4 at Wilson Brewer Park. The event would be in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerces’s Christmas in the City activities planned for the same day.
Original source can be found here.
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