New London — The city is about a month away from starting a remediation project expected to eliminate the exposure to lead paint at City Hall, but it will leave the seat of city government largely empty for weeks.

The project, Risk Manager Paul Gills wrote in a memo to city councilors last week, "addresses the most problematic areas" including the City Council chambers, the council's ante room, the second and third floor lobbies, the city clerk's office, and the main stairwell.

While the work is being done, Public Works Director Tim Hanser said, the city council and mayor's offices will need to be relocated for about three weeks. No meetings will be held in City Council chambers during that time.

In 2010, the state Department of Labor's Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Conn-OSHA) cited violations stemming from lead paint exposure at city hall. The city assured Conn-OSHA the lead paint problem would be taken care of, Gills said, but it never was. Earlier this year, Conn-OSHA returned and fined the city $3,200 for "serious" and "repeat" violations.

On Monday evening, Gills and Hanser briefed the City Council's Public Works Committee on the plan to address City Hall's lead paint problems, including signing a contract not to exceed $95,000 with a West Haven company to complete the work.

"If we do not rectify the situation, the next citation will be 'willful' and the fines go up by four times, which would be approximately $16,000," Gills said. "So, basically, our backs are against the wall. We do need to remediate the situation. ... The only way to truly remediate the situation is to take care of the peeling paint, put a coat of paint over it to stop the flaking and peeling of paint."

The public works committee voted to recommend the full city council approve the contract and funding at its meeting next Monday.

City Hall was designed by architect James Sweeney in 1912 to replace the municipal building that had stood on State Street since 1856. Its grand Renaissance Revival design is intended to demonstrate a civic pride in the architecture of the city, according to New London Landmarks.

In January, Ledge Light Health District inspected City Hall and issued a Public Health Order for the first-floor room where a broken steam pipe had burst inside the wall and mold was growing throughout the room. Humidity levels in the room topped 98 percent during the inspection.

The city is in the early stages of developing a plan to restore the more-than-100-year-old building to its former glory. The lead paint abatement work will not be counterproductive, though, and "will be a logical first phase of a multi-phase renovation and restoration project to restore City Hall," Gills wrote in his memo to councilors.

c.young@theday.com

Twitter: @ColinAYoung