BOE Headquarters Building Assessmen

In the recent weeks, the BOE closed the floors 22, 23 and 24 of the building located at 450 N Street. This closure and relocation of our staff have raised questions and concerns for all involved. We want answers to those questions and we want to address the concerns of our staff and the public. The BOE is retaining its own building, medical and remediation consultants to guide and assist us in the assessment of our work environment.

We have advised our consultants that our primary concern is the health and safety of our employees. We strongly believe this includes providing them peace of mind. Our current goal is to protect their health and restore their peace of mind and confidence that they work in a safe environment. In order to do this we want to have the building and its systems assessed. The consultants we have retained are prepared to perform this assessment.We have developed this web page to provide a forum for communication to our staff and public on the building investigation and other related matters.

At this time, the following steps are anticipated:

1) Content Analysis and Relocation
As a result of the closures of the floors 22, 23 and 24, more than 200 employees, Board Members and their staff have been relocated. Some remain in the HQ building and 114 members of our legal staff have been relocated to the Franchise Tax Board offices. During the initial relocation efforts employees and others have expressed a concern that the files and materials being brought from the closed floors may be contaminated with mold.

Mindful of the concern of all involved we asked our consultants what could be done to assess the condition of the files. They established a protocol for the inspection and clearance of work files. The inspection process began Friday October 12 and should be completed soon.

In addition to the files, staff members have been requesting the return of their personal items from their desks. We believe staff will express the same concerns of contamination of these items. We have also asked our consultants to address this issue upon completion of the document project.

2) Building Assessment
The building is owned and maintained by the Department of Governmental Services (DGS). They advise us that they have been monitoring the building with air tests and visual inspections.

Our consultant team will be reviewing the building history and data to develop a testing protocol to assess the building. Since we do not own the building, specific task activities will require coordination with DGS. Once the specific steps are identified, this section will be updated.

We have asked that protocols be provided for all work, and those protocols will be posted on this page.

3) Remediation
If any condition is observed that requires remediation, our consultants will be asked to participate in the planning and analysis of that remediation. Since the building is owned by DGS, they will be performing any remediations to the building.

4) Monitoring
Once the assessment and remediations are completed, we will be asking our consultants to advise on future monitoring and air quality management procedures.

5) Employee Assistance
As we begin to conduct our investigation of the building, your input will be valuable. If you observe any condition that you believe was caused by water intrusion, or if you see or smell anything you believe is mold, please let us know.

Or, if you have any questions, please ask and we will get the best answer we can from our consultants. This may take some time, but we will do our best to get answers to you.

Thank you for your continued cooperation throughout this process.