City Council discusses surface contamination in buildings

Havre City Council discussed at its meeting Monday a recent report submitted the the city’s safety committee regarding surface contamination in the fire department and police station.

In October, industrial hygienist Keith Cron submitted a report to the committee after examining the buildings at the request of the city. The committee reviewed the report and discussed possible courses of actions to address the issues it revealed.

At Monday’s meeting Council and Safety Committee member Josh Miller discussed the report which found that there was no evidence of any air contamination in the buildings, but did find very high levels of asbestos and heavy metals on surfaces, which will require remediation.

Miller called the findings egregious, pointing to specific areas where the concentration of asbestos on surfaces was 6.2 million units in a square centimeter.

In October, Cron said there are no legally mandated limits for asbestos concentration but he doesn’t like to see more than 1,000.

Miller said heavy metal levels do have legal limits and the levels found in the police station basement are especially high and many times above legal thresholds.

After the meeting in October Cron said that while the numbers he got are concerning, it’s important to note that the really extreme readings generally came from surface areas that aren’t used by employees with any frequency, and readings taken in the areas most commonly frequented by people were not nearly as high.

He said the level of heavy metals he found on surfaces throughout the building are concerning and he’s not going to say that they can’t have any effect on someone’s health, but the situation isn’t catastrophic.

At Monday’s meeting Miller said the remediation process will take time and much of it can’t start until winter ends but they do have a general idea of what the timeline for the process will look like.

Miller also said he’s received comments from the public saying the city is not being transparent about the issue and he wants everyone to know that his door is always open to people who want to talk about the issue.

Later in the meeting Havre Mayor Doug Kaercher addressed the issue and said the city is still waiting on recommendations for contractors to handle remediation and what the timeline will look like, but he suspects the whole process will take more than one summer.

He said they haven’t received any new information since the committee meeting in October and he has since informed department heads to let staff know what to do to file workers compensation claims if they feel their health has been compromised.

He also said that, under this process, the worker’s medical information is protected by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, HIPAA, so the city cannot intrude upon their individual privacy.

During the meeting the council also unanimously confirmed the appointment of Calvin Greiff as a Havre police officer and the reappointment of Chase Stoner to a 2-year term on the Havre City-County Airport Board.

During public comments the council also heard from Bear Paw Development Corp. Executive Director and House District 28 Representative-Elect Paul Tuss, who said he has received a copy of Havre’s finalized Downtown Master Plan which he will send to members of the council.

Tuss said the council took an active role in the public meetings about the plan over the past year, and he thinks the plan is ambitious and well-thought-out.

He said he understands there are elements of it that remain controversial, in particular potentially reducing the width of a section of Highway 2 that goes through Havre, but he hopes the council will consider the plan over the next month or two before deciding whether or not to approve it.

He said he also wanted to talk briefly about his upcoming time in the Montana Legislature and encouraged council members to be in communication with him so he can keep up-to-date on the issues they want addressed at the state level.

Tuss said he’s been assigned to the Montana House’s Appropriation Committee and and the budget they are looking at contains at least $7 million in local infrastructure improvements including to Havre Beneath the Streets and their city’s public water systems at the recommendation of Gov. Greg Gianforte.

Havre Public Works Director Dave Peterson also spoke during public comments, saying he received a resignation letter from Deputy Public Works Director Jeff Jensen, whose last day will be Dec. 20.

He said he would like the council to recognize Jensen at next month’s meeting for his 33 years of service to the city.

The next meeting of the council will be Tuesday Dec. 3.