The Montezuma-Cortez Re-1 School Board heard some glad tidings Tuesday night in their final meeting before the holidays.
The owner’s rep for the demolition and abatement of the old high school said extensive new tests indicate asbestos in the structure is not the dangerous, friable type, as state inspectors had said. Jim Ketter of Ketter Project Management of Durango said these new findings must be approved by the state, but the sub-contractor is confident of the results. The change would slash the cost of asbestos abatement from the original estimate of up to $1.9 million, to about $425,000. The cost of the entire demolition project is now estimated at $1.3 million rather than $2.5 million. In November, voters passed a measure allowing the school district to take funds intended for a new football stadium and use them for tearing down the old building. The new findings mean more money should be left over from that project to pay for a major revamp of the existing Panther stadium. The savings would not, however, be enough to build a new athletic complex.
