Palisades Park police officers turn their backs to mayor during borough mold discussion

PALISADES PARK — The municipal council has taken its first steps in an effort to rectify a mold situation at Borough Hall.

The council, after some fighting and back and forth, at its Sept. 25 meeting approved the leasing of a trailer to be used by Police Department personnel. It also gave the go-ahead to get price quotes for replacing the roof that caused the mold, as well as for the remediation of the mold itself.

It took the mayor and Borough Council more than a year and a half after the mold issue was discovered and reported to take those steps.

More than 50 claims of injury have been filed by borough employees to the insurance group about illnesses caused by the building conditions and mold in Borough Hall, police headquarters and attached buildings, according to officials and documents received through Open Public Records Act requests.

Over 400 pages of emails and documents obtained by The Record and NorthJersey.com, mostly through OPRA requests, show lingering health concerns among employees attributed to mold contamination and air quality in the buildings — conditions that have mostly been unaddressed.

Although the requests for proposals and police trailer were approved, it will be months before work begins and the police officers are moved out of the building.

A two-year lease for $1.149 million over 26 billing cycles was approved for a trailer that meets with the attorney general's guidelines, Mayor Chong "Paul" Kim said. The remediation, Kim said, could be completed in less than a year, and there are no penalties to end the lease early.

The trailer won't be available for another three months, and once it arrives, utility companies will have to perform work to get it functioning, officials said. The plan is to have the trailer in a parking lot on Depot Place, near ShopRite.

Story continues below gallery of document photos.

During the meeting, several police officers who attended turned their backs to the mayor while he was speaking about the mold.

At least 25 police officers have reported they sought medical attention related to mold.

"We are happy that the council started to address the serious safety concerns in our police facility, including mold and asbestos," Policemen's Benevolent Association Local 45 said in a statement. "These conditions have already had an impact upon the health of our members. The trailer approved at the meeting will provide a safe working environment for employees while the township fixes the many issues impacting borough hall."

Palisades Park council pointing fingers

Despite the headway, in-house fighting is still occurring among a divided council that is also pointing fingers at employees and accusing them of not doing their jobs.

During the Sept. 25 meeting, Councilwoman Cynthia Pirrera and Councilmen Michael Vietri and Jason Kim said they believe employees need to be moved out of Borough Hall immediately because of health concerns, a proposal met with pushback from the mayor.

Kim, the mayor, said he thought borough employees were working from home, but Borough Administrator David Lorenzo said that is not entirely possible. He said that because of the many documents kept at Borough Hall, employees need to be there to use them for their work and get them to anyone who is requesting access.

"I don't think everyone has to move out," the mayor said in an interview. "We will isolate it and use other areas in sections. Some areas are bad and others are OK. We will try to make sure people can come back into work."

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Vietri said it was a "disgrace" to have the borough employees come to the building every day and have it open to the public.

"As far as getting the rest of the employees out of the building, it's still status quo to him," Vietri said of the mayor. "Nothing is happening. We are just leaving them in Borough Hall, which I think is crazy."

Health and safety

Pirrera, who is vice president of a high-rise buildings division with 25 years of experience, said she fears the "band-aid" method will not work and is worried about the health and safety of the employees who are still in the building.

"When you open up walls and ceilings, nine times out of 10 you are going to run into more issues," she said. "There are a lot of young employees and employees with children. Six months from now are they going to find something out that will change their lives forever because this group of people couldn't think of their welfare?"

Palisades Park has a "weak mayor" political system, and often, when the six-person council has been split on a decision, the mayor has cast the deciding vote.

Councilwoman Stephanie Jang and Councilmen Jae Park and Suk "John" Min did not respond to requests for comment.

Kim, the mayor, said employees who are complaining should wear a mask and that the borough administrator should have mandated measures to alleviate the mold.

"But I had to do it, because others think the best thing to do is move out," Kim said. "It's one of the options but not the only option. People in charge should protect themselves. No one thought to get an air purifier or clean the HVAC? Preventive measures were not taken."

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The mayor said that if employees saw water dripping or mold marks on a drop ceiling, it should have been reported to the facilities manager or deputy borough administrator, then blocked off and cleaned.

"No one is doing this," he said. "They are expecting to move and not doing their jobs. There have been two years of delays and not fixing anything because they're waiting to move out, and how is that fair if the governing body is still considering what to do? They're not doing their duties."

In February, attorney Andrew R. Bronsnick from Mandelbaum Barrett emailed Kim to notify him that borough employees were in the process of filing individual claim petitions in Workers' Compensation Court.

Bronsnick said he represents 16 employees who suffer from varying degrees of symptoms associated with mold exposure. He said the borough has only responded in court documents and has not done anything to improve working conditions.

There are also more than 50 claims related to mold with the insurance group. The mayor said he finds the timing of the claims suspicious and that if he suspects foul play, he's ready to go to court.

"Health is my No. 1 concern, but it's very coincidental that the administrative staff and employees, when they realized when we were going to remediate, a lot of health complaints came out," he said.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Palisades Park NJ police officers turn backs to mayor at Borough Hall