Rats, mold and other undesirables forced the town of Sullivan’s Island to abandon the building that had served as Town Hall for more than four decades.
The Sullivan’s Island Town Council hasn’t decided what the long-term future holds for the building that served as Town Hall for more than four decades. City officials have, however, determined that it’s necessary to hire a professional mitigation company to get rid of the mold, rats and other undesirables that hastened the abandonment of the one-story brick structure at 1608 and 1610 Middle St. in June 2011.
At their Nov. 13 meeting, Council members directed Town Administrator Andy Benke to seek bids on what it would cost “to put the building in some kind of safe status where it’s not going to continue to degenerate or get worse,” Mayor Pro Tem Justin Novak said.
Council members previously discussed the possibility of letting town employees handle the job, but that idea failed to gain traction.
“I think we’re all in agreement that we don’t want to put town folks at risk and hire a professional company do it,” Councilman Scott Millimet said at the Nov. 13 meeting. “I think you almost got to get it into shape to mothball, ripping out anything that can continue to decompose or attract mold – basically get it into a state that would remain a steady state.”
When asked by Novak if he has any sense of what the environment inside the building, built by the U.S. Army in 1911 or 1912, is like, Benke responded: “Absolutely. That’s what prompted us to evacuate. I have the environmental reports on the mold, and it’s unlikely that it improved itself.”
Benke added that “we believe it’s certainly occupied by creatures, the roof probably isn’t watertight and groundwater is causing additional problems.”
“I doubt seriously the Army put a moisture barrier down before they constructed it,” he said. “I don’t know that we’ll ever be able to stop those two issues. The best we could do is remove anything that mold would attach itself to. It sounds like the drop ceilings and carpet need to be ripped out.”
Benke said files and documents required by state archive statutes have been removed from the building “to the best of our knowledge.” He added that there isn’t any asbestos in the building.
Council Member Gary Visser, who earlier this year floated the idea of renovating the building to provide low-cost housing for town employees and teachers, agreed that something needs to be done soon.
“We’ve kicked the can down the road as far as we should. This is an attempt to clean up, mitigate and just stabilize, not to renovate. I think that will be a later discussion what the town intends or what the best use of that property is or disposition of it,” he said.
In other action Nov. 13, Novak read a resolution honoring Nelson Gerena, who is retiring after 38 years in law enforcement. He has been with the Sullivan’s Island Police Department since October 2014. Police Chief Chris Griffin described Gerena as “dedicated, loyal, dependable and hardworking.”
“I hope he stays healthy and enjoys his retirement. He earned it,” Griffin said.
The Council also approved a proclamation declaring Nov. 16 as World Pancreatic Cancer Day on Sullivan’s Island.
