The Parnell administration has decided the new location for Department of Labor & Workforce Development employees in the building known as the “Plywood Palace” will mostly be to remain in the same building.
State Chief Procurement Officer Vern Jones said Monday that 78 Department of Labor employees will move to new offices in the Mendenhall Mall, while 260 will remain in the current location.
“I’m not happy about it, we’re very concerned about the people who are in that building,” said Kim Metcalfe, business agent with the Alaska State Employees Association, whose General Government Unit represents the rank-and-file workers in the building.
Juneau’s legislative delegation had been hoping the decision by the Department of Administration to seek bids on new office space would mean new quarters.
“This was certainly not the delegation’s understanding, or our hope,” said Rep. Beth Kerttula, D-Juneau.
Instead, Juneau I, the limited liability company that owns the Plywood Palace and other state office buildings offered the low bid.
Jones said a review committee made up of staff from the Division of General Services and the Department of Labor reviewed the bids and made the selection.
The building on West 8th Street at the foot of the bridge to Douglas has had water infiltration and subsequent mold problems, though the building owners say they’ve taken steps to solve the problems. Despite its nickname, the building is now clad in steel, for one thing.
The Legislature provided money for the administration to study locations for a new, state-owned building for the Labor Department offices, but it instead decided to continue to rent space.
Kerttula said she doesn’t want the employees in that building, unless they can show the mold that is thought to have caused employee health problems can be shown to have been eliminated.
“The bottom line is the employees’ safety, and we were told that was also the administration’s bottom line,” she said. “This is not what I expected to see,” Kerttula said.
Metcalfe said she was “very upset” when she heard the employees would be mostly remaining in the same building.
“I’m very concerned about the people who are in the building,” she said. “We’ve been working on this for years.”
She said she had hoped a new state-owned building would be built. “That sounded like the solution we needed,” she said.
Jones said the notice of contract award has been issued, but they are now in a 10-day protest period before they can take steps to finalize the new leases.
Following that, it will take some months for the Mendenhall Mall space to be readied for its new occupants. Jones said the move there might be in November.
The work groups moving to the valley will be Network Services and the Employment Security Division’s Unemployment Insurance call center.
Jones said he wasn’t sure where in the Mendenhall Mall the new space would be located, but other state offices recently moved into a portion of the former Gottschalks location. There are numerous other vacancies in the mall, however.
The lease term will be for five years, with shorter renewal options, Jones said.
• Contact reporter Pat Forgey at 523-2250 or at patrick.forgey@juneauempire.com.
Comments (20)
Add commentHmmm
Will it be the commissioners and directors as well as other higher level staff moving to the mall? If the building is unsafe it's unsafe simple as that. Have a third party analysis done.
its only employees
If these were employees of the big 3 oil companies, Parnell would have the building razed and a Crystal Palace be put in place.
Drama
The building does NOT have any black mold, testing, testing and MORE testing was done and found NONE. The people moving out to the mall are IT people, network services. I had the "privilage" of hearing all the whiners in that building for years, and complained enough where they got to "work" from home..uh huh...
Why
If they are going to only move a small number, what is that accomplishing? I'm still in favor of a new building out by Safeway in that vacant lot that would house those over in the OLD Douglas building, Corrections and Fish and Game, now that's a building that should be demolished.
Really AKPatriot?
So, you're saying that most if not all of the employees in that building are in some giant conspiracy to not have to work?? I have never worked for the state, or worked in that building, but I did have to drop deliveries off there for a number of years. I have MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) and I can tell you that within 2 minutes of walking in that building I would be nauseous and working up a massive headache. There is a problem in that building. Clearly.
Really!
Sounds like AKPatriot knows what they are talking about! I truly think that so many of those people that work there that have "issues" have begun to believe that something is wrong with that building, and that they think something is wrong with them. Power of suggestion IMHO! People love to jump on the bandwagon.
Plywood Palace
BUILD A NEW STATE OFFICE BUILDING IN THE VALLEY!
We need this for several Departments. Alaska has the money, we are the Capital of Alaska, lets accomodate the people who diligentely run this state-
Re: Drama
Not sure where you are getting your facts from but there has been testing and mold has been found. There are employees who have been tested and toxic mold has been found in their systems to the point that one employee is out of work for up to six months. More people would take the test but you need to pay up front ($700.00) for the test and not many people can afford this. Would you want your family member to suffer in the years to come because they worked in this building? No one can predict what working in this building will due long term. Why take the chance that you may be damaging people’s health because there is not enough information to say if there is the potential for adverse health problems. There are too many people who work in this building with respiratory problems for it to just be hysteria or “jumping on the band wagon”. I guess this will be like asbestos and we have to wait until people start dying to decide to make some changes.
Testing
I got my information from the test results that I was privy to seeing. The air OUTSIDE was much worse than the air inside, test after test. Consistently. The mold that was found was NOT black mold, and it was not toxic. Fact.
Testing
So when they had to close off a meeting room "FishBowl" due to mold being found and another employer was instructed by their doctor not to work in the building until that room was fixed means what to you.
I'm saying...
That it is over dramatized, hyper sensitive people, if they complain enough, their supervisors have no choice but to kowtow to them and send em home...and Metcalf the union hack is really getting some airtime on this one...the mold, again, was not toxic. Of course they will get a doctors note..you can get one of those for an ingrown toenail these days..
curious
as to how some employees qualify for moving out of a moldy building while others have to stay. One would think if its bad enough for some to move its bad enough for everyone to move. Seems to me its time for the employees to hire a lawyer. Or better yet, someone needs to knock a hole or two in the wall on the first and second floors, take an air sample (you can buy kits) and send it to Juneau Empire anonymously seeing how the building owner has yet to let the inspector open up the walls and perform air tests. Wonder if this new contract includes the owner replacing the HVAC system at no cost or how much money the State is going to keep throwing at this boondoggle at the expense of their employees health. My friend showed me some pictures of the water damage, and mold, it was terrible. Someone should find those pictures and post them on-line.
AKPatriot, curious as to which 5 years you worked in the building, what part of the building you worked in and how you were able to not see the mold, and yes black mold was found. How did you miss the water coming through the ceiling onto computers and lamps on desks. How did you miss the saturated carpet, file cabinets rusting from sitting on wet carpet, and the carpenter ant problem that they sprayed for inside the walls at the same time the leaks were still happening. Im amazed you somehow missed all that. I can see the building owner writing in to claim there was no mold, but any employee that had worked there for any length of time knows otherwise.
Seems more myth than fact
I know that there are those who are going to spin out of control because of that statement. But I hope they pause long enough to at least consider why I feel this way.
I do not work there, nor have I ever. I don't know anyone who heard from someone, that was told by their sister.... So I have no buy in one way or the other. I have no personal stake in it. Nor do I feel any kind of 8 degree attachment.
For long as I can remember there has been speculation and rumor about how toxic that building is. How many have become disabled or died because of working there. In today's sue happy society I think if there were any truth to the rumor someone would have filed a class action by now. Combine that with the fact that no one I have ever talked to even personally knew someone on disability or dead. I tend to feel this is a Juneau Urban Myth.
Maybe it is based on a musty smell. Or old building combined with low tide makes a suspicious odor, I don't know. But until there is public documentation of legit testing... I am not storming the tower with a torch and pitchfork.
Indoor Air Quality
Interesting, AKPatriot. You stated that testing showed the indoor air to be cleaner than the outdoor air - that seems contrary to prevailing research and alarming if true since we are all breathing this polluted outdoor air:
"In the last several years, a growing body of scientific evidence has indicated that the air within homes and other buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air in even the largest and most industrialized cities. Other research indicates that people spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors. Thus, for many people, the risks to health may be greater due to exposure to air pollution indoors than outdoors.
In addition, people who may be exposed to indoor air pollutants for the longest periods of time are often those most susceptible to the effects of indoor air pollution. Such groups include the young, the elderly, and the chronically ill, especially those suffering from respiratory or cardiovascular disease." http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/insidestory.html
What's really sad about this situation is the villification of our friends and neighbors, some of whom probably do suffer from compromised immune systems. The idea that it's "all in their heads" is patronizing. If the Administration can substantiate their claim that the building is safe via an independent testing mechanism, then they should do so. IMO, they've handled this issue poorly, allowing the owner of the building to neglect their duties as landlord as well as neglecting their own duties to ensure a safe work environment.
I have a relative that works in that building and is not personally suffering any health effects that we're aware of; however, he has seen many strong effects on his co-workers. He is further of the opinion that the union has been of no help whatsoever in this situation - so the idea that a "union thug" is causing problems might be unsubstantiated.
@lvmykyk
Im not sure I understand, is it that you dont believe there is mold or is that you dont believe people are having effects from the mold? I can understand not wanting to believe hearsay, here are excerpts from an old article discussing it. I too, hope the employees file a class action suit.
http://juneauempire.com/local/2012-02-12/workers-labor-department-contin...
"The Fish Bowl conference room window had cracked drywall and portions of the window cove came unglued. The area is currently dry, however, the inspector peeled back the cove base to reveal “a dark colored material on the gypsum wallboard, which was thought to potentially be organic growth,” the report read, “thus a sample was removed for laboratory analysis.” The analysis corroborated the initial suspicion."
"The report also found the building has leaks and that the vapor barrier is breached in areas. The lack of a continuous vapor retarder and missing cavity insulation could lead to condensation and potential organic growth within the wall cavity,” the Wiss Janney report states."
"Though he said the building sports new paint and windows, some fixtures are not up to date, nor is the HVAC system, Barnhill said. And he said the state and building owners are in discussions on how to deal with the suspicion of mold within the interior wall cavity, though he cautioned that there is “still controversy as to the effects of mold within the voids of the interior wall.”
"The state too has suspicion, “there has been suspicion that there is mold in other parts of the building,” Mike Barnhill, deputy commissioner at the Department of Administration said."
air sample vs surface testing
This is a good site that explains why surface testing is more important than air testing. Not to mention the air testing they did outside was by the front door, according to employees, where there was an overhang that was rotting.
http://www.moldreporter.org/mold-removal-busting-common-myths/
The good old days!!
I remember when a GSA guy at the Federal Building told me that I'd "be hard pressed to prove that any lung cancer I might develop was the result of working in the building". Then the guys in bunny suits shut it down floor by floor. Black mold doesn't even approach the consequences of asbestos exposure. Any of you folks remember the white dust on your desktops after they ran wires in the overhead back in the '80's!!
I worked in the plywood
I worked in the plywood palace back in the mid to lates 80s and the building was leaking like a sieve back then. I'm talking about the wall of the building that faces the Channel - looking down toward Taku... It was so bad that the sheetrock was crumbling off on the inside of the building on all thee floors. When it rained and was windy the water literally came rushing in on the window sills...
Like many people I had a constant runny nose and sneezing type symptoms that started when I walked into the building and ceased after I got home. I have always been very healthy and rarely experienced this kind of sinus type symptoms.
Back in those days our union got the state and building owner (the Blomfields) to hire a environmental engineer to study the building as one of their sister buildings built in Anchorage using the same design was determined to be a "sick building" (high levels of mold). What they found out in the Juneau building was that the HVAC duct system HAD NEVER been swept or cleaned out and there was tons of dust, crude and other stuff in the duct work. The other thing they found out was just like the 3 mile DOT building (owned by the same people), they turned off the HVAC over the weekends allowing for mold to grow in the warm and wet duct system.
So, given the leaking walls and the condition of the ducting/HVAC system,it wasn't a surprise that people were experiencing sick building symptoms.
WHile some of this can be "cleaned up", mold in the wall cavities would have to be dealt with by tearing all the sheetrock out, cleaning and disinfecting the wall cavities and then replacing everything. And of course fixing the wall leaks and keeping hte HVAC system clean and functional.
Whether this was done successfully is anyone's guess... Given the building owner's past practices and history, my thought is that the state sould have moved out years ago...
What are the exact expectations
For the landlords?
It sounds like a nightmare. I feel badly that any of our neighbors has to work there.