Debris from the demolished building that was once the home of much of Ottawa's medical community has received a clean bill of health from state and county environmental inspectors.

Late last month, after being hired by the city of Ottawa, crews from Big D Earthmovers in Ottawa demolished the dilapidated structure next to Ottawa City Hall.

The building, which once stood across Madison Street from the former Ryburn-King Hospital, had served as the Ottawa Medical Center. Most recently, the building served as temporary offices for Ottawa city officials as Ottawa City Hall underwent renovations in 2002.

However, the building had stood vacant since early 2003, and earlier this year, the city purchased the structure from former Ottawan Chuck Varney with the intent to tear the building down to install a new parking lot for City Hall.

The city earlier this year hired Midwest Environmental Services of Yorkville to remove ceiling and floor tiles that contained asbestos from the building.

When that work was completed this summer, the city acquired a demolition permit and hired Big D to demolish the structure and remove the debris.

However, as the work progressed, an unidentified complainant telephoned the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to request the agency inspect the site for continued presence of asbestos.

That work was carried out in late August, shortly after the building was brought down.

Upon arrival, IEPA inspectors found that, indeed, a few tiles had been left behind, said John Krolak, an asbestos inspector and district manager for the IEPA's Bureau of Air.

"We noticed some floor tile on the concrete slab that had apparently been hidden under some partition walls and so could not have been removed until the building around it was demolished and removed," said Krolak.

The IEPA notified the city, which then called Midwest Environmental back to the scene to remove the few tiles remaining from the more than 9,800 square feet of asbestos-containing floor tile reported by Midwest Environmental.

He said inspectors also found some asbestos in some roofing paper.

However, Krolak said investigators did not believe the materials posed a health hazard, as they were not friable, meaning the material could not be easily pulverized or crumbled by hand to enter the air.

At no time did work on the site stop as a result of the asbestos discoveries, said Krolak.

"We just felt it was best to let them continue to sort and remove the debris," he said.

The vast majority of the material is being taken to landfills or to recycling centers, said Big D owner David Leigh.

However, inspectors also learned that "two or three truckloads" of debris had been removed by Big D as fill material to a property north of Marseilles.

While the material was largely acceptable fill material such as bricks and concrete, EPA inspectors did find some other debris, including roofing material, among the loads.

However, tests revealed no presence of asbestos in that material, so the portion of the case involving the materials taken off-site was transferred to the jurisdiction of the La Salle County Department of Environmental Services.

Department Director Mike Harsted said he was aware of the case, and that the law stipulates that debris other than acceptable fill material can only be disposed of in a landfill or, in the case of metals, recycling centers.

However, he said, he did not believe any enforcement actions were necessary in this case.

"In my mind, this issue is pretty much finished," said Harsted.

And that opinion was shared by Krolak.

"This particular project, as far as I can tell, is settled," he said.

Leigh said he and his workers expect to continue work on the site into next week.

"We're just cleaning this site up, and doing our jobs, like we were hired to do," said Leigh.