By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

Crews are scheduled to resume demolition of the former Ambassador and Conference Center, 3603 Vine, this week.

Carl Britz, co-owner of American Wrecking Services, Kansas City, Mo., said crews were shut down for the second time earlier this year because they found asbestos. He said they are scheduled to begin work again Wednesday.

As a demolition contractor, Britz said he works closely with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Whenever his crews come across environmental concerns, they stop demolition.

“I don’t care what the job looks like. Where it’s at, I’ll stop.” Britz said. “I will generally pull equipment off until environment issues are cleaned up and taken care of and that’s exactly what we did there.”

Britz said the hazardous material was found in sheet rock in a few rooms crews were stripping before demolition. He said it was not a result of something they did and that it was “nothing major.”

Britz said crews come across asbestos during almost every job and an environmental company was brought in to clean up the hazardous material, approximately 10 trash bags full. They had the company complete a sweep of the building to make sure there is no asbestos left in the building and do not expect any more issues with asbestos.

People can expect to see crews working in that area again this week, according to Britz, and he said people will see, “more demo, more cleanup and more of a mess.

“It gets worse before it gets better,” he added.

When they began working, they had a timeline of five weeks, but the two delays pushed that timeline back. Britz said he now wants to be done with the demolition and cleanup by the middle of May.

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