Spirits were high at the Massachusetts Bar Association's House of Delegates meeting on May 25, 2005; the day before, the state's chief trial court judge and the commissioner of the Division of Capital Asset Management had issued a joint statement saying that "given the high level of concern on the part of certain building occupants over the asbestos-related work associated with the elevator project…the asbestos abatement phase of the elevator replacement project will not be undertaken while the building is occupied."