BANGOR – More than three months after they vacated their offices at the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building, members of the regional Occupational Safety and Health Administration office staff are still working out of a suite at a Bangor motel – at a cost of $500 a week.

Instead of desks and office chairs, the seven OSHA staffers headquartered at the Ramada Inn on the Odlin Road work at three long folding tables, like those used in schools and church halls. Files and other documents are housed in cardboard boxes placed on the floor, along the wall.

Business conducted on cellular telephones takes place in the lobby because the signal reception in the suite is poor. Business requiring confidentiality is conducted elsewhere.

During a visit to the “office” on Tuesday, staff did not permit photographs to be taken and referred questions to the OSHA office in Boston. A spokesman from the Boston office looked into the matter, but did not have any information on what, if any, steps had been taken to move the Bangor office operation into a more appropriate workspace.

Concerns that the U.S. Department of Labor’s plans to merge OSHA offices and displace Bangor office employees, potentially causing service problems for Maine workers, prompted the state’s congressional delegation on Tuesday to write to U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and General Services Administrator Stephen Perry demanding answers and action.

Specifically, the delegation is asking OSHA to scrap plans to merge its Bangor and Portland offices into one office in Augusta and to find suitable office space in Bangor. That would enable OSHA employees to better serve Maine workers, the delegation observed in a joint statement issued Tuesday.

It also would save workers from northern Maine 78 extra driving miles – the estimated distance between Bangor and the state capitol.

“It is our understanding that this consolidation is not required by either budget or program consideration. The OSHA budget is undergoing no strain at this time, and, in fact, moving the offices to Augusta would cost the agency more than keeping them in Portland and Bangor. Increased travel time, expenses and overnight per diem of compliance officers would be more costly,” the delegation noted, pointing out in their letters that the motel suite costs $500 a week, despite the availability of alternative office space in the area at a fraction of the cost.

Led by U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud, the delegation worked this winter to include language in the Omnibus Appropriations Act instructing OSHA to maintain its Bangor and Portland offices until Congress has had time to review the merger plan.

The House Appropriations Committee asked for documents showing the plan’s evolution – as well as a cost-based justification for the move. To date, the committee has not received the specific cost analysis requested for such a consolidation.

Tuesday’s letters were prompted by Rep. Michaud’s visit to the office.

“I recently visited the Bangor displaced employees at the Ramada Inn and was appalled to see that they have been working out of [a suite], and due to cramped quarters and lack of computers, casework for northern Maine is being referred to Portland,” Michaud said.

“This is an issue of great concern to the entire congressional delegation, not to mention the people of northern Maine who need OSHA’s assistance,” he said.

The Bangor office was forced to leave its former quarters in the federal building on Feb. 14 because the General Services Administration needed the space for the federal court system, also housed there.

Since then, field workers have been working out of their homes, something many already did routinely. Telephone calls to the Bangor office are automatically transferred to the Portland office, which remains open.