Dehumidifiers installed to eradicate basement mold

September 24, 2006

ERIE COUNTY FAMILY COURT

By MATT GRYTA

News Staff Reporter

9/23/2006

The Buffalo News Sat, 23 Sep 2006 6:02 AM PDT

Basement dehumidifiers will be installed this weekend in the five-

year-old Erie County Family Court Building, where mold problems are

being blamed for illness and other complaints among 60 probation

officers and clerical staffers.

But R. , section president of Local 815, Civil Service

Employees Association Local, said that may not be enough, that mold

may have permeated the seven-story building's heating system.

Gerard Sentz, deputy county public works commissioner, said the

basement will be closed this weekend for the work. Sentz, who said

isolated mold problems have been corrected in the building,

indicated that one basement room is set to be ionized this weekend

to remove smells, and added the entire basement floor may be ionized

to eliminate all odors bothering the probation workers.

Sentz said he is eager to determine how Probation Department

staffers find conditions when they return to work Monday.

and Probation Officers Lauria and Brockman said

they recently took their concerns about " toxic mold " to the County

Legislature after two years of unsuccessful attempts to get the

administration to eradicate the problem in the $33 million building.

said one probation officer said her doctor told her she has

mold in her lungs because of humidity fostering the growth of mold.

, Lauria and Brockman said concerns about the mold were first

submitted to the Giambra administration in the summer of 2004. They

said an August 2005 air-quality review and mold inspection completed

by a private laboratory working with the CSEA confirmed " toxic

molds " were found. The study also raised questions about possible

elevated levels of carbon monoxide.

Probation Commissioner banned workers from entering

the basement records room without masks and rubber gloves.

e-mail: mgryta@...

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