EASTHAMPTON — Several staff members who work in the city’s Municipal Building began reporting symptoms related to poor air quality and other issues inside the building on July 17, a week before the city hall was officially and indefinitely closed to the public.

Among the symptoms the employees reported were shortness of breath, chest tightening, headache, cough and aggravated asthma, according to a notice Director of Public Health Allison Egan sent to Mayor Nicole LaChapelle on July 17 outlining violations she observed during a visit to the 50 Payson Ave. building, where HVAC repairs are taking place.

The violations include excessive heat and lack of ventilation; excessive dust and exposure of employees to the HVAC work environment; general concerns for air quality; and health concerns of employees.

The letter, which has since been updated with more recent violations, also ordered the restriction of occupancy of the municipal building to only essential workers. The building did not officially close to all employees and the public until July 24.

“We were closing the building anyways day by day, and because they were trying to fix it, a lot of people were already working from home,” LaChapelle said.

Public Works Director Greg Nuttelman said that the contractor for building repairs, Honeywell International Inc., took the main air handler for the building offline on the afternoon of July 17, which was when air quality issues began.

“They attempted to cool the building and exchange a sufficient amount of air with portable air units… for a couple of days before they realized they just could not,” Nuttelman said.

On July 20, the building was closed for the day in response to air quality concerns.

After further attempts by Honeywell to mitigate the air quality problems, the Department of Public Health assessed the air quality of the building on July 21 and found no need to close the building, according to LaChapelle and Nuttelman.

At that point, Honeywell continued to take steps to protect the health of employees in the building, including installing temporary air conditioners and adding tubing and vents to get the air out of the building.

LaChapelle said that she did not officially close the building when air quality concerns became apparent on July 17 “because we were in the middle of mitigation and our DPH and the state didn’t find anything in the air testing that would indicate the building needed to be closed after a deep clean that weekend.”

A week later, on July 24, LaChapelle ordered the building closed indefinitely, citing “ongoing safety concerns related to air quality inside the building.”

During the building’s closure, the city’s health department has been working with the Department of Public Health, the Division of Air Quality, the Department of Labor Standards, and a third-party contractor to conduct inspections and perform testing on air quality, mold, dust and particulates that pose health concerns.

“We knew there were violations going on before today,” LaChapelle said on Wednesday. “Instead of rolling the dice and seeing if it’s OK, I decided that, for the interest of health for staff and the public, that it was best to keep it closed until we knew that construction was finished.”

Violations observed

In the notice to the mayor, Egan outlined several issues after inspecting the building. Specifically, she said that despite temporary portable air conditioning units put in place on July 17 during HVAC renovations, many offices in the building still reached temperatures higher than 90 degrees.

The lack of appropriate ventilation led to stifled air, humidity and excessive moisture, which caused bowing of ceiling tiles and condensation on certain surfaces.

Further, Egan wrote that there was an observed lack of separation between employee work areas and HVAC work areas, creating a potential for poor air quality and posing health threats to employees.

Egan noted two significant events. On July 20, contractors disassembled an HVAC unit in the basement with open doors, a process that involved cutting through metal and installing fiberglass insulation.

“Excessive amounts of black dust were tracked through the building during this process and while the parts were hauled out of the building for disposal,” Egan wrote.

She also noted that on July 24, a contractor jackhammered through a cinder block wall across the hall from the engineering and health department offices, once again with insufficient protective measures.

“This caused excessive noise and a significant amount of dust which is likely to contain large amounts of silica in the hallway,” she wrote.

Egan also wrote that she and human resources are coordinating medical care for employees who reported symptoms, and noted that staff can use a confidential form to report symptoms, questions, or other concerns.

LaChapelle did not know exactly how many employees reported symptoms.

In the meantime, Egan ordered that the building remain closed until all violations have been corrected and until a re-inspection passes.

Nuttelman said a new main air handler unit has been installed and is currently under the process of being wired.

The city is also talking to a contractor about deep cleanings of surfaces, carpets and other areas once construction is completed, according to LaChapelle.

LaChapelle added that the city is waiting on a new timeline for construction completion, cleaning, and re-entrance into the building, which involves the health director working with the state on a list of requirements before going back into the building.

For now, municipal offices remain remote or temporarily relocated to the following locations:

■ Assessor’s Office: Remote.

■ Building Inspections: Public Safety Complex

■ Collections: Public Safety Complex, Dispatch Conference Room.

■DPW Reception: Water Works Building.

■Finance and Human Resources: Public Safety Complex.

■ Mayor’s Office: Hybrid (Public Safety Complex and remote).

■ School Department: Mountain View School.

■ Technology Services: Public Safety Complex.

■ City Clerk, Planning Department, and Health Department: Remote, but taking appointments by request under the tent at City Hall.

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