Rockingham County Courthouse in Brentwood, NH

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http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/04122003/opinion/22733.htm

State finally recognizes it’s time to clear courthouse air

Here come the building doctors. Finally. State and county officials this week agreed on a plan that will - cross your fingers - mitigate bad air quality issues at the Rockingham County Courthouse in Brentwood. As part of a complicated plan that involves departments moving from one part of the building to another, workers and inspectors from an environmental cleanup company will eventually tear up and replace carpets, seal the building’s concrete pad to keep out moisture, make changes to the heating and ventilation system and explore what lurks behind some of the walls in the problematic Register of Deeds office.

The estimated price tag for the state: between $250,000 and $300,000. This is a lot of money considering the building is only about 7 years old, but money well spent. Workers at the Register of Deeds office have complained for at least two years that something - maybe the air, the carpets, mold or bacteria - has been making them sick with flu- and allergy-like symptoms, but the state was slow to act until inspectors looked into the problems late last year. It seems the courthouse may be suffering from a case of "sick building syndrome." According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the term "sick building syndrome" is used to describe situations in which building occupants experience acute health and comfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a building, but no specific illness or cause can be identified. A 1984 World Health Organization committee report suggested that up to 30 percent of new and remodeled buildings worldwide may be the subject of excessive complaints related to indoor air quality. Often this condition is temporary, but some buildings have long-term problems. In the chronic case at the courthouse, flooding back in 1997 caused water and sewage to seep into the floors where the Register of Deeds office is located. A thorough cleaning didn’t fix the problem; and five years later, in 2002, workers brought their concerns before county and state officials. In these days of mysterious sick building syndrome, deadly flu-like illnesses like SARS, threats of bio-terrorism and chemical warfare, complaints about illnesses should be handled swiftly. A team of title abstractors, led by Sandy Whittaker and Neville, deserve credit for being the squeaky, creaky wheel that finally led to more extensive efforts by the state to address the air quality issues. Whittaker’s team, on its own, paid for an initial toxic mold study, which led to additional studies conducted by a team from the state’s insurance company. At a meeting in December, state officials and inspectors insisted they found no toxic threats; nevertheless, the state followed through on its promise to conduct a more in-depth health survey of workers, and to start tearing up walls and carpets for more testing. This remediation project requires urgency on another level. The courthouse is the setting for human legal dramas, played out in criminal and civil trials and, as such, could itself become a target for a disgruntled person. In this case, indoor air quality becomes a public safety issue as well. We hope the state’s efforts will finally cure a building that has been sick for a long time. - Portsmouth Herald