Asbestos abatement work began last week in the old fire station on Fennell Street as the village works to transform the building into the new village hall.

The work, started Monday, Aug. 27, by Jupiter Environmental Services of Rochester, is expected to take about three weeks, said Village Trustee Jim Lanning. Until then, the building will be cordoned off while the abatement is ongoing.

Jupiter Environmental Services was awarded the asbestos abatement job after its public bid of $39,982 for the work was accepted by the village board at its July 26 meeting.

Once the asbestos removal is finished, professional consultants will inspect the building to make sure the job was completed according to specifications, which will take two to three days, Lanning said. The next step after that will be for engineers to undertake concrete and structural testing to inspect the soundness of the building structure, he said.

Also last week, the board’s committee on the new village hall basically completed plans for the interior layout of the remodeled building and hoped to sign off on the plans as final. “We got a pretty good grip on it,” Lanning said.

The village still is waiting to hear about a state grant it applied for to help make the new village hall a “net-zero” energy usage building by utilizing energy efficiency, renewable energy, and/or carbon abatement projects in the renovations.

Phase one of the new village hall project — renovation of the old fire station building interior — is scheduled to be completed by spring 2013, at which time the village offices are expected to move to the Fennell Street location. Phase two, external work on the building and the public parking lot in front of the building, is scheduled to commence next year.

Jason Emerson is editor of the Skaneateles Press. He can be reached at [email protected].