Mold found in county health department building

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Mold found in county health department building

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February 27, 2009 - 4:33 PM

Yuma Sun - Yuma,AZ,USA

http://www.yumasun.com/news/building_48248___article.html/county_mold.

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BY STEPHANIE A. WILKEN, SUN STAFF WRITER

It may not rain often in Yuma, but recently a Yuma County official

said water has caused mold problems at the county's public health

department building.

Rain caused water damage to the building, 2200 W. 28th St., and now

the building has mold and structural damage, said County

Administrator Pickels.

Pickels said officials found the problem in late December, and

there is a " fairly significant amount of mold " caused by " water

seepage. "

He said the contractor deviated from the original design when it

worked on the building 10 years ago. And county officials discovered

the structure overlaps the foundation on three out of four corners of

the building, which caused the problem, he said.

Pickels identified Linthicum Contractors as the original contractor

on the project. He said he thought that company later went out

business.

The Sun found a Web site for Linthicum Corp., but a spokeswoman for

that company's sdale office said the company did not work on the

health department building.

Pickels said any legal action the county could take regarding the

deviation from plans would depend on the duration of time since the

county moved into the building, which in this case is 10 years.

He said the process of removing the mold will be completed in the

next 30 to 60 days. The project will cost around $57,000, and is

contracted out to Sun Country of Yuma.

The county also contracted another Yuma business, architectural

firm EMC-Squared, to design the repairs to the structural damage,

Pickels said.

While the building is being worked on, Pickels said employees in

areas where there is mold and structural damage will temporarily be

moved to another part of the building while contractors work in the

affected area.

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A. Wilken can be reached at swilken@... or 539-6857.