Mold forces police to leave building

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Tuesday, October 22, 2002

Mold forces police to leave building

Fritch officers to be in council chambers

By JESSICA RAYNOR

jraynor@...

FRITCH - Fritch Police Chief Trevlyn Pitner thought the smell permeating his

department was a gas leak at first.

Then he thought it could be a rotting foundation or deteriorating sewer

pipes.

" Everything checked out OK, " he said. " But there were days when the odor was

unbearable. I was leaning toward a dead animal decaying. We did some

checking around. We couldn't find anything. Everything was sealed up. "

Then they brought in the experts.

In August, Assured Air Quality of Dallas took scrapings of the walls and the

ceiling.

Last week the mystery was solved: Mold was in the building.

" Basically, what they found was moisture buildup in the heating and air

unit, and it went into the venting area, " he said. " We got the report back

last week, which showed some mold spores were present. "

Fritch City Manager Ric Walton said none of that mold was the toxic black

mold variety that caused literal headaches to homeowners, schools and

governmental entities across the state.

But for safety and health reasons, the city plans to move the department to

the city council chambers permanently within the next few weeks, Walton

said.

" It's an ideal thing, " he said. " In most small towns, the police station is

at City Hall. It'll be all one building. "

Engineers meanwhile will determine how much it would cost the city to

mitigate the mold problem, Walton said.

He said it may be cheaper to renovate City Hall to house a council chamber

and the police department, a plan the city is pursuing.

Preliminary studies estimate the renovation to cost about $15,000, Walton

said.

The city council will meet in the old city council chambers in the Lake

Meredith Aquatic and Wildlife Museum across the street until any renovations

are completed, he said.

The abandoned police department could eventually be used as storage for the

attached museum, he said.

" With respect to the remodeling itself, it would within a given amount of

time pay for itself, " Walton said. " It would be one less copying machine,

one less fax line. "

But until then, the police department's heating and cooling system has been

shut down for fear spores could travel.

Employees have opened windows to cut down on the stuffiness and odor.

" We already altered our workload; we don't spend a lot of time in here, "

Pitner said.