The City of Lisbon will be reviewing a number of choices at the next council meeting for the paint removal at the Lisbon History Center building.
The amount of paint removed with a single application of removing chemicals from the Center by Bi-State Masonry has not reached the 85 percent to 95 percent that will allow for bricks and mortar to be inspected and repaired.
According to city administrator Brandon Siggins, Bi-State Masonry was recommending another application to the exterior of the building.
Rebecca Hess, with the Lisbon Historic Preservation Commission, said that David Abrogast, a specialist with brick and mortar, will be coming to Lisbon to evaluate the process of paint removed thus far and give his opinion what the next steps should be. Abrogast’s evaluation would be $745, which the commission will pay.
The council will review at the next meeting what option should be explored for removing some of the stubborn paint on the exterior of the building.
One of the concerns raised was that when the chemicals were applied to the building, the temperatures may have not been the most conducive and impacted the ability of the chemicals to remove more of the paint.
The commission had $19,000 in grants to pay for one application of chemicals, but if additional chemicals are needed to be applied, that bid does not cover an additional application.
Council members Sara Nost and Mike Williams mentioned this was one of their initial concerns – that the city will get stuck dealing with a money pit property.
Hess said the commission was unsure of when the lead paint was first installed, and worried that the first coat of paint could have been a “milk coat,” a much thicker application of paint that will take more to remove.
Public works director Travis Bagby was wondering why this should cost the city more money. The city signed a contract to have paint removed, and that paint isn’t removed.
The contract with Bi-State Masonry was for only one application of the chemicals, Hess said.
Mayor Doug O’Connor said that as the project is now nearing a month with little action removing the paint, he is concerned about how long it will take.
“We have Sauerkraut Days festival coming in two and a half months,” O’Connor said. “The sidewalks and portion of downtown can’t be blocked off for that festival.”
Hess said that brick repairs will not begin to the building until after Sauerkraut Days is over, allowing the blocked sidewalks to be cleared following the paint removal.