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.”
