WAILUKU >> Some 80 Maui County employees are scheduled to return in May to a two-story building that was evacuated last year because of bad air. Maui County building
fixes due by MayStar-Bulletin staff
A contractor plans in April to rid the Kalana Pukui building of mold found in air ducts and under some ceiling tiles.
County official Lance Taguchi said the general contractor David P. Ting & Son is being paid $310,000 for the cleanup, which began Jan. 7.
Ting also will receive some $45,100 for a change order for painting the interior and replacing a section of floor in the building.
Planning and public-works employees were evacuated from the building in February 2001 after several complained of eye irritation and one person had respiratory problems.
A colony of "stachybotrys sp." fungus was found on the surface of a water-stained ceiling tile in the building.
The fungus, which did not turn up in air samples, can be harmful, especially if inhaled by the elderly, the young or those with auto-immune problems, county officials said.
The county has been renting work space for the employees in a couple of commercial buildings in Wailuku.
Taguchi said the cost of rent through this month has totaled $204,000.
Maui County
