Mayor fast-tracks Westover fix
Martin: Original September 2022 date to resolve mold issues ‘unacceptable’
— Two weeks ago, the plan to fix the longstanding humidity and mold issues at Westover School was set to be resolved by 2022, but by Tuesday night, Mayor David Martin pushed that timeline up an entire year.
How? Through a combination of sheer will and a circumventing of the traditional project delivery method.
Instead of the typical design/ bid/build approach, Martin sugSTAMFORD gested using the existing contract at Westover Magnet Elementary School with Viking Construction to allow them to complete the project, and he also identified funding sources, not necessitating any approvals by boards.
“We’re forcing this through to make this happen,” Martin said, during a meeting of the Stamford Board of Education Tuesday night.
When member Jackie Heftman asked how the timeline was cut so dramatically, Martin responded that the original completion date of September 2022 was “unacceptable to me.”
Still, there is no guarantee that the work is completed by Sept. 1, the tentative goal date set by Martin. He put the chances of completion by that time at about 80 percent.
City and school officials say they have identified the problem and a possible solution to the ongoing mold and humidity issues at Westover. City Engineer Lou Casolo said the main problem at the school over the last eight months occurs when unit ventilators shut off once the set temperature of a classroom is reached. Air, he said, still comes in through the ventilators in such instances, but that air is not conditioned.
That results in humid air entering the structure, which can then
lead to moisture, condensation, and eventually, mold.
The solution identified by officials is installing three “dedicated outdoor air systems,” or DOAS, in an effort to dehumidify air that enters the structure. The systems, described by Casolo as essentially giant dehumidifiers, would bring in outside air, and take out the moisture, before the air is delivered to unit ventilators inside classrooms.
The biggest challenge in completing the installation of the new systems is getting them delivered on time, due to supply chain issues created by COVID-19. If the district does receive the dehumidifier units by the end of July, they could be installed and operational by Sept. 1, Martin said. If not, the work could be completed over the winter break.
The current estimate for the work is roughly $2.8 million, though that could rise to $3.6 million if the city needs to dole out overtime expenses in the rush to get the system set up by September.
To pay for it, Martin suggested using $2 million from an upcoming July bond issue from the city budget, another $1 million from a surplus related to a Dyke Lane project and $500,000 from rebates from Eversource.
While there is a chance the systems are not operational by September, Martin said he is “extremely confident” that they would be installed at least by the spring of 2022.
By the end of the meeting, Martin had the blessing of the board to go forward with the project.
Superintendent Tamu Lucero said a meeting is scheduled for May 10 at Westover to update the school community on the progress.
In the meantime, there doesn’t seem to be a perfect solution to the school’s humidity woes.
Casolo said the ventilator system combined with the building’s chiller, is inadequate in controlling humidity during the cooling season, meaning such problems are likely to persist during the last month of the school year.
Teachers were recently told they can have windows open in the coming weeks, while the school is still under a heating system. Once the building is turned over to a cooling system on May 15, teachers will be instructed to keep windows closed.
The school will have to turn on the building’s chiller on hot days, as well as continue to run two dehumidifiers in each classroom, and “monitor the heck out of it,” Martin said, to prevent mold growth.
Last week, Stamford Board of Education members voted to hire an outside consultant to look over the work at Westover and provide recommendations to the body.
Members expressed frustration over the continued humidity and moisture issues at the school.
On Tuesday, they decided not to pursue that angle, instead opting to support the city’s plan to fast-track the work and attempt to complete it before the start of the next school year.
Westover closed in October of 2018 following air quality tests that detected mold. Students were relocated to an office building on Elmcroft Road owned by Building and Land Technology.
Once repairs were underway in 2019, workers found more mold than was originally expected at the school building. In February of 2019, the district announced the school would be closed for the entire 2019-20 school year and reopen in fall 2020.
The school district has spent roughly $24 million on renovations to fix long-term problems at the school, which reopened at the start of this school year.
Condensation caused mold to form on ceiling tiles in multiple classrooms a few days before school started on Sept. 8, 2020. That mold was removed and the rooms remediated.
Later, mold was discovered in eight classrooms.
Last year, Casolo told members of the Stamford school board’s Operations Subcommittee that keeping the building dry has proven difficult.
The four wings at the school include classrooms that utilize unit ventilators, and they have all been problem areas, he said. Over the past two years, the interior of the building was gutted and renovated as part of a project that included new mechanical upgrades as well as new floors and ceiling tiles.
Potential mold growth has been found in the building as recently as April 9.