Valley firm contracts to remove asbestos ceiling in courtroom

Whitman County Commissioners Monday awarded a contract to IRS Environmental of Washington out of Spokane Valley to complete the work of removing the ceiling in the superior courtroom at the Whitman County Courthouse.

“I think it's a great contract,” commented Commissioner Michael Largent.

The contract is for $31,646 and involves removing the ceiling to abate asbestos in the room.

“It's getting rid of the asbestos in the ceiling of the courtroom so they can do the ceiling remodel,” said Commissioner Art Swannack.

Facilities Manager Bob Reynolds told the Gazette the original project called for abating the asbestos, but not entirely removing the ceiling to do so.

“We were just going to drop the ceiling down,” he said.

The asbestos content turned out to be more extensive than originally estimated, so plans were changed.

“We're just going to get rid of it and get it out of our hair,” said Reynolds.

Reynolds said the plans changed as soon as the issue was identified, but it does not cause the price tag to change.

“This was not included, but it was part of our original budget,” he said.

The McKinstry Company has been working to complete the project in the courtroom, as well as at the Public Service Building, but will not be involved with the ceiling removal. Reynolds said McKinstry is not able to be involved with the project due to constraints of the energy grant the county received from the state Department of Commerce for the project.

“We're doing it ourselves,” said Reynolds, noting IRS Environmental is on the county's small works roster.

The ceiling removal began Monday and is expected to take two to two-and-a-half weeks, and the entire courtroom project is expected to wrap up by the end of November. The present ceiling in the room is at 23.5 feet and will drop by 10 feet once the new ceiling is completed. The new ceiling is expected to improve the acoustics in the room, as well as the heating and cooling.

While the project is underway, superior court sessions are being conducted in the Public Service Building auditorium.