CITY SEEKS BIDS FOR INTERIOR WORK.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer

NEWHALL - The city is collecting bids to redo the interior of the aquatics building at Newhall Park where a persistent problem with mold was linked to poor drainage.

Officials hope the repairs on the 3,300-square-foot building will be finished in time for the summer swim season, Sarona Vivanco, a management analyst for Santa Clarita, said Wednesday.

``You would go in there and it just kind of smelled musty,'' Vivanco said. ``There was no visible mold, but once they removed the drywall, there it was.''

Built in 1991, the facility has a locker room and showers to serve the park pool, also refurbished at the time.

Problems started about four years ago, when staff members complained the building was musty and had bad ventilation.

``When we started doing improvements, we found there was considerably more mold that we anticipated,'' Vivanco said.

An environmental specialist was hired to remove the mold. No health complaints were linked to the problem, she said. Typically, staffers hosed down the tile walls for routine cleanup, but some minor excavation work later found the drainage was faulty and the water wasn't being piped away.

The city has budgeted $325 for repairs and is now accepting bids from contractors to repair the interior.

The Santa Clarita Valley Boys & Girls Club, which has its headquarters in the park adjacent to the pool, had to refurbish its building because of a chronic mold problem.