McIntosh offices invaded by mold

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McIntosh offices invaded by mold

Florida Times-Union - ville,FL*

By MIKE MORRISON, Times-Union correspondent

WORKERS BECOME ILL: County officials want to relocate several

employees to a safer, temporary site.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu

online/stories/070208/geo_298584655.shtml

It may be a little while before employees of the McIntosh County Tax

Assessor's Office can breathe easier.

Their Darien office is infested with mold and, with no other county

building to relocate the workers, County Manager Luther Smart is

scrambling in search of a building to rent.

" We have nothing that can accommodate seven desks, " Smart said, " so

we'll have to find something to rent on a temporary basis. "

Smart and Chief Appraiser toured one vacant building

this week and plan to visit several more.

" We'll have to look around some more and see what else is out

there, " Smart said. " We've already had to rent one building for

Emergency Medical Services because their building was destroyed by

the Mother's Day tornado. "

said several of his employees have been stricken with

illnesses possibly linked to the mold.

" I've got staff dropping like flies, " he said. " We have an extremely

high count of mold in the air. "

Two workers missed work Monday with upper respiratory infections,

said, one despite working while wearing a respirator. Another

has a thyroid problem, and yet another a kidney infection.

" The type of mold we have, all of these things can be attributed to

it, " said.

A certified mold inspector documented the problem after being called

in by the county. He discovered a laundry list of molds,

said, including cladosporium and aspergillus.

According to a report compiled by mold specialist Gladding

of Townsend, the molds, while not toxic, produce microtoxins and are

known allergen irritants.

" In these quantities inside, they are capable of sensitizing humans

and causing them to have allergic reactions,'' Gladding

wrote. " Persons with allergies, asthma or immune-compromised systems

may be subject to respiratory problems or other related symptoms,

including wheezing, sneezing, coughing, watery eyes, headaches or

other health problems. "

said the mold is visible in bathrooms, closets and the attic

crawl space. He theorized that it got started after water pipes in

the wall and under the floor burst in January 2006.

" There was two to three inches of water on the floor, " he said.

Workers vacuumed up the water and removed the 1960s-era shag carpet,

but still " it stunk of mildew in here for months and months after

that, " said.

said his staff is continuing to work on the tax digest

despite the mold problem. But he wants out of the building, which

once served as the sheriff's residence.

" The county's got to do something or we're going to be between a

rock and a hard place, " he said.

Smart said he'll move as fast as he can to relocate the office.

" We're going to do it in an expedited manner, " he said.

Then, he'll have to deal with the cleanup.

" I can't estimate how much that's going to cost right now, " he

said, " but it's going to be expensive. "