Gasconade County Republican

Demolition of additions to the old Owensville Elementary School have been halted until a Missouri Department of Natural Resources investigation is finalized over concerns the R-2 District did not properly receive approval for the project.

Renee Bungart, spokesperson for the DNR, said Tuesday that the district “did not conduct a valid survey” of the site for asbestos and did not file a mandatory plan for asbestos abatement or demolition 10 working days prior to beginning the work. “Samples are required with a 10-day notice on suspected materials and submitted for laboratory analysis,” Bungart told The Republican.

Bungart said Scott Hoffman, an environmental specialist for the DNR’s St. Louis regional office, made a site visit Feb. 16. He was off Monday for the holiday and on vacation Tuesday so his report was not yet complete. However, Bungart said the district had not provided the necessary 10-day notice of intent to start the work and had not “conducted a valid asbestos survey prior to demolition.”

The survey, she said, was required from a “Missouri certified asbestos inspector.”

She spoke to a co-worker of Hoffman’s  in the St. Louis office to obtain the information she provided for this report.

She said an investigation was initiated after an “anonymous complaint” was filed with DNR. She did not know “offhand” how the complaint was made.

“I feel confident we handled everything the way it should be handled,” R-2 Superintendent Dr. Russ Brock told The Republican on Tuesday morning. “The amount of asbestos fell below standards for notifying DNR.”

Jeff Blankenship Excavating is demolishing the additions to the 1908 OES building in exchange for possession of the former Rosebud Elementary School building and grounds. Demolition of the 1997 office addition, the 1958 addition’s office complex, and the 1987 library addition began Feb. 8.

“We told Jeff to suspend demolition until further notice from DNR,” said Brock.

The work site was idle all last week. Preliminary demolition work began in late January.

Brock said Blankenship told the district last fall he did not want the responsibility of asbestos removal. So, said Brock, the district developed a plan “to remove known asbestos in the building during (negotiations for) the agreement with Jeff last fall.”

Brock said Tuesday night that district staff trained in asbestos removal removed materials last fall which had previously been identified by a certified inspector as containing asbestos.

R-2 Board of Education members were updated on the suspension of the project when they met Tuesday.

“It’s on hold right now,” said Brock. “DNR has contacted us and an inspector was here (Thursday) to make an inspection.”

Brock told boards members that the DNR inspector took two exterior photographs of the site but did not enter the building. “He was kind of fuzzy if we really had to do that,” Brock told the full board.

Brock said the impression he got was since there was “small enough quantity” of know asbestos containing material in the building that the district did not need to take additional steps before demolition began. “We weren’t required to report it but we should have anyway,” said Brock

Brock said the district can expect to pay about $500 for testing samples. The district has independently contacted an inspector certified to conduct inspections through the federally mandated Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) of 1986. “He seemed to think there were a lot of samples that had to be taken,” Brock told the board. “It’s certainly frustrating.”

Brock said the inspector they contacted had conducted a prior inspection of the site as recently as three years ago. He is expected to take the new samples this week.

Brock said those samples would be taken from roofing materials, window glazing, caulking, and block walls.

The district applied for, and received, a demolition permit from the city. That permit has been legally posted at the site since work began.

“The city will tell you they were not aware of this,” said Brock. “We have agreed to stop demolition.”

 Brock was asked during the meeting if the DNR had ordered the work to cease. “They (the DNR) said ‘we can’t force you to stop but are requesting you to stop,’” said Brock. “They were strongly recommending we stop demolition.”

Brock told the board he believes the district is in compliance with federal mandates covered by AHERA.

In his written report to the board, Brock noted, “What appears to be in question concerns the asbestos that once was in the building. If you remember, we had a certified asbestos analyst visit the site, and help us develop a plan for removal of the small amount that remained at the time. We followed the plan and removed the asbestos in question. We have followed all legal requirements that we are aware of at this point. It may be that DNR was expecting some kind of notice about this demolition or some kind of form to be filed with them concerning the asbestos removal.”

Until the issue is resolved, the site remains idled. Brock said “the DNR will probably take a couple of weeks to make a decision on that.”

He added, “Jeff is going to be patient and wait.”