Courthouse repairs may cost $2.5M

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Courthouse repairs may cost $2.5M

By Leifer

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/20070108/NEWS01/701080303

Hattiesburg American - Hattiesburg,MS

The Forrest County Circuit Courthouse is getting stripped down.

The mold infestation county officials discovered back in April

caused complaints of sinus problems and headaches among some court

personnel - but bills for cleaning out the nearly 100-year-old

building could cause headaches of a different sort.

Crews from Specialty Abatement Inc. of Hattiesburg last week started

tearing out ceiling tiles and vinyl wall covering, behind which more

than a dozen species of bacteria, fungus and yeast were lurking - a

problem that grew out of control, county officials said, during nine

humid days without air conditioning after Hurricane Katrina.

The vinyl wall covering hid the dark patches of mold, which powder

off at the touch. Specialty Abatement also will clean out the

offending spores, a process called remediation.

" This was the problem, " Forrest County maintenance supervisor Curtis

Elliott said, picking up a sheet of the peach-colored vinyl from a

pile that had been discarded on the floor of the Circuit Clerk's

office. " It's clean on the outside, and we couldn't see what was

behind it. This will be specifically addressed (during renovation)

so this doesn't happen again. "

Architecture - the same firm that renovated the Masonic

Lodge - has been hired to renovate the Circuit Courthouse, and will

begin drawing up plans once the tear-out and remediation is complete

in about three weeks to a month, Elliott said.

Meanwhile, five machines called " air scrubbers " are buzzing loudly

throughout the building to maintain air quality. Still, Elliott

said, once workers begin tearing up the carpeting and even more

offending materials are released into the air, anyone entering the

building will have to wear protective gear.

Workers already have cleaned mold off salvageable archival documents

and furniture that are being stored in mobile units on Eaton Street,

which has been closed to traffic.

That process, along with tear-out and remediation, is expected to

cost more than $163,000 - but that's just the tip of the billing

iceberg. By the time about 50 Circuit Court and District Attorney's

Office personnel are able to move back into the building, the price

tag could hit $2.5 million - an unexpected expense Forrest County

Board of Supervisors President Hudson has called " a budget

buster. "

That figure " encompasses remediation and renovation ... but it could

certainly change, " Board Attorney said.

County officials had hoped that because the mold problem was

apparently linked to Katrina, the project would be eligible for

money from insurers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency and

that the whole cost would not fall on the county. But both have

turned proposals down, said.

FEMA denied the request for more than $500,000, saying the mold was

a pre-existing condition, County Administrator Mike Sumrall said

recently.

Hopes for a grant from the Mississippi Department of Archives and

History worth up to $500,000 also were recently dashed - but the

agency encouraged the county to apply for a second and third round

of grants this year, Elliott said.

The county plans to appeal both the insurers' and FEMA's decisions,

said.

" New sources of money aren't on the table right now, " he said. " But

we certainly won't foreclose on that possibility. "

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Originally published January 8, 2007