Investigation Finds No Black Mold in JCLS Office at State House - See the Report

Investigation Finds No Black Mold in JCLS Office at State House - See the Report

Testing by the firm Silva Environmental Associates has found no black mold in the Joint Committee on Legislative Services (JCLS) office at the Rhode Island State House.

READ THE REPORT BELOW

Silva Environmental Associates was hired to augment the firm Single Source -- a cleanup firm with close ties to Frank Montanaro, the Executive Director of the JCLS.

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The investigation took place on Tuesday, January 28 just one day after GoLocalProv broke that State House records were being dumped, and the Rhode Island State Police were alerted.

“An employee in the JCLS office discovered black mold under her desk last week, and she was moved into another office. A steam leak was determined to be the cause of the mold. The JCLS office was evacuated today, the carpet was ripped out, and furniture and partitions contaminated by the mold were thrown out. All the employees were relocated while the repair work is being undertaken. The Department of Administration, which is in charge of the building maintenance, is supervising the project and is coordinating the effort," said Nicholas Mattiello’s spokesman Larry Berman in a statement.

JCLS is chaired by Mattiello -- and presently, his leadership of the committee is being investigated by the Rhode Island State Police, as GoLcoalProv first reported two weeks ago.

JCLS Investigation

As GoLocalProv has reported, the Rhode Island State Police are investigating actions tied to the JCLS as it relates to a threatened audit of the Rhode Island Convention Center.

In addition, House Minority Leader Blake Filippi has raised questions about records of the JCLS. Filippin sent the following to Montanaro following the removal of items from the JCLS offices:

"I hereby direct you to provide the members of the JCLS with a written log of all records and computer hard drives that were removed from the JCLS offices, their current location(s), and a list of all persons with access to these locations. Given the damage created by the presence of mold to documents and hard drives, additionally please include a log of any documents or hard drives that have been destroyed. 

I also demand a written commitment that all documents and hard drives will be preserved, only accessed in the normal course of business, and that none of these items will be moved, removed or altered without prior written notice to the members of JCLS. 

If I do not hear from you by 10 AM on January 29, 2020, I will seek injunctive relief in Superior Court compelling compliance with our General Laws."

See the Mold Report in the Slideshow Below