By Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Asbestos abatement work is moving along at Howell City Hall, which was discovered during some maintenance work on the HVAC system.

In December, Council earlier approved a City Hall boiler replacement and duct upgrade project. In early January, the ductwork portion of the project got underway and it was discovered that some of the older ceiling tiles on the first and third floors contained asbestos.

At a recent meeting, City Council approved a motion with Regal Demolition to remove ceiling tiles and track for a cost not to exceed $11,560.

City Manager Erv Suida told WHMI when they went out to bid on the HVAC work, they had some particle and duct work that was blown apart and they had to get it changed out. In that process, he says they discovered some ceiling tiles - about 6,000-square-feet - had asbestos so they had to hire a company to do the mitigation. That work was done as of early last week and all of the asbestos was removed.

Suida stressed there was never any threat to public health or safety; it was just a matter of removing the tiles and disposing of them properly.

As the third floor has been messy, loud and kind of torn apart; those needing to do business with departments located there such as the manager, clerk or building department have been advised to instead just go to the second floor and staff will come down.