Controversy surrounds last year's demolition of Conrad Building in Johnstown

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WJAC) — The historic Conrad building — which sat vacant for years in Johnstown — was demolished last summer.

But Johnstown resident and former City Council member Charlene Stanton recently cited demolition dangers.

"Everybody can shout, ‘hooray, the building is down,’ but regulations and laws should've been complied with, because it should've been a simple demolition,” she told 6 News.

The City of Johnstown hired Steel Valley Contractors out of Youngstown, OH and CSI Construction out of Verona, PA for the $166,000 demolition.

Stanton says the companies mishandled asbestos waste and left bricks in the nearby river, among other wrongdoings.

So, she filed complains with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

The PA DEP told 6 News, "The parties failed to follow the 'National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants’ notification requirements for demolition of asbestos, which are critical to ensuring protection of the public health and safety from the dangers of asbestos.”

They also wrote, “DEP is evaluating its enforcement options.”

City of Johnstown Mayor Frank Janakovic said the companies are ultimately to blame for the wrongdoings.

"The contractor was in charge of all the aspects of the demo and making sure the cleanup and everything were done. The construction company and the demolition company was ultimately responsible for all aspects of that,” Janakovic said.

But Stanton said the city should’ve done more to oversee the cleanup operations before cutting them a check.

She made a motion at the Johnstown City Council meeting Wednesday night to debar or suspend Steel Valley Contractors and CSI Construction from future city contracts.

“You have the power to do it,” she told the council at the meeting.

Stanton says the council didn't respond to her request, but that she wants them to follow through.

"They need to be more responsible. When you demo a building, it's not, ‘let's just go knock it down and that's that.’ There's laws that you have to comply with. The city has an obligation to provide for the health, safety, and welfare of its residents,” she said.

We reached out to both agencies involved in the demolition for comment.

Steel Valley Contracting said it’s a “closed case” and they're not paying fines.

CSI Construction said they felt they did a good job, but paid the fines anyway.

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