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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 1995)
Monday, January 23, 1995 Page 3 Burnett tops UNL repair list JeffHaller/DN ucimdiici/ur FIn,ey’ an eiPP,°ye® Of Mechanical Specialties, Inc., of Lincoln, welds a 90-degree turn on 24-inch pipe that will be used for the chilled water svstem of camDus The new piping is a part of a previously approved utility maintenance expenditure. sysiem Qt campus. Insight Continued from Page 1 Burnett Hall Burnett Hall, which is listed as the No. 1 Computers have been damaged by the high humidity in Burnett’s basement, he said. About 3,000 square feet of classroom space is unus able because of water penetration. To repair the problem, he said, the walls would have to be removed and the floor ex posed. Well points would be installed to pump out the moisture, and a membrane would be used to seal the outside base of the building. The upper floors and attic have problems of their own. “Everything’s covered in asbestos,” he said. Suspended duct work and a ceiling above a classroom are covered with asbestos. Open holes in the ceiling of the second-level hallway show where asbestos has already been removed. Cracks in an opening between floors show where an asbestos leak is possible. “So far, we’ve managed to contain it. When ever we see anything serious, we’ve taken it down,” he said. “We’re fearful of ceiling drop.” If a large release of asbestos occurs, the building would have to be closed, he said, and emergency relocation space would be hard to find. “Right now, we’ve been fairly lucky,” he said. JeffHaller/DN .J°*)n*!)dfews. left, a junior fine arts major, and Rich Christie, a shop foreman, talk while taking a break Fnday in front a graffiti-covered exit in the basement of Hicnaras Hall. Carpenter’s luck improved when the gover nor included improvements at Burnett Hall and the Walter Scott Engineering Center on his budget. “I’m delighted that the governor is support ing UNL’s highest priority,” he said. “I hope the ^gislature follows through, and the uni versity could get a building project going.” Installing new heating systems, lights, class room fixtures and other equipment will be less expensive than maintaining the old materials, he said. Richards Hall Similar repairs in Richards Hall, the future home of the College of Fine and Performing Arts, will have to wait. Although Richards Hall’s asbestos prob lems are not as severe as Burnett’s, Carpenter said, the building suffers from structural dete rioration. Richards Hall would be improved, he said, but its Romanesque architecture would not be tampered with. “It will still be a grand old lady,” he said, laughing. Designed in 1908 to house the mechanical engineering department, Richards Hall was built to be stout, Carpenter said, but age has taken its toll on the roof, trusses and brick work. The wide spaces inside are suitable for the art department’s galleries, he said, but he said he would like to see the addition of an outdoor courtyard and kiln space. The front entrance would be closed in and designed to meet ADA standards, he said. Projects such as the Beadle Center and the Lied Transplant Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center have received fund ing before UNL renovation projects. But these projects receive funding from other sources, Carpenter said, and are not prioritized against each other. “You have to move in all directions,” he said. “You can’t stop projects from moving at all fronts at the same time.” Making the list All UNL capital construction requests that made it to the regents' list - except Richards Hall - were included in the governor's budget to the Legislature. Other projects in the governor's budget include: ■ Walter Scott Engineering Center improvements. ■ Universitv-wide fire and life safety deficiencies. ■ University-wide utility infrastructure repairs. UNL projects that did not make either the regents' list or the governor's budget include: ■ Love Library renovations. W ■ A hazardous materials center at Manter Hall. ■ Biochemistry Hall and L.W. Chase Hall renovations. ■ A natural resource complex. ■ Lyman Hall renovation. ■ A new research lab building at Northeast Research and Extension Center, near Concord. Bill pairs lottery, building repairs By Matthew Waite senior Reporter A bill introduced by state Sen. Jerome Warner of Waverly that would take money from the state lottery for deferred-maintenance programs may see the business end of the governor’s veto pen if it passes. The proposal, LB263, would use lottery money that currently goes to a landfill-closing project when the project expires in 1997. That change would alter the balance set up in the original lot tery legislation that sends 49.5 per cent of the profits to education and 49.5 percent to environmental projects. The other 1 percent goes to the Compulsive Gamblers As sistance Fund. Warner’s legislation would slide half of the environmental monies into a Building Renewal Alloca tion fund to be used to fix the more than $100 million deferred-main tenance backlog. Warner said the fund would take in nearly $3.5 million annually. However, Gov. Ben Nelson has stated that he is opposed to the measure. Dara Troutman, the governor’s press secretary, said the governor saw the bill as a break of faith with the voters of Nebraska who approved the 50-50 split for the money. Warner disagreed. “I know there are those that like to say the voters approved gam bling because of where the money was going,” he said. “I think gam bling would have been approved anyway. “That gambling money ought to go for things one time in nature.” If this bill doesn’t pass, Warner said, the state may have to turn to increased income or sales taxes to solve the deferred-maintenance problem. The bill would not be taking money away from projects currently in the works, Warner said. And, he said, the bill will not take effect until the projects expire. Warner said the bill wasn’t anti environment, either. “It (the bill) doesn’t mean I think the other money is inappro priate,” he said. “I just think this is more beneficial.”