Workers claim Rockingham County courthouse makes them sick

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Workers claim Rockingham courthouse makes them sick

Their frustration may lead to lawsuit

Monday, June 17, 2002

BRENTWOOD - Workers at the Rockingham County Court building say the air is

making them so sick, they're considering legal action.

Many people who work out of the Register of Deeds office are suffering from

allergy-type symptoms that a recent report suggests is caused by bacteria

and mold. Some even wear protective face masks at work.

Title abstractor Whittaker, 54, of Salem, is among the more seriously

inflicted. She is on medication to fight sinus problems, a persistent cough,

itchy eyes and fatigue.

" My doctor told me on Friday you're not to come back here, but I have to, "

she said. " We have to do our jobs. If I could be somewhere else, I would.

The choice the state and the county has is to get us out of this infection. "

The workers, who are on the verge of a class-action suit, say they want to

be relocated or the building gutted and rebuilt.

County officials say the state intends to evaluate a scientific report on

the building and explore mitigation methods.

But workers fear being there for months before the state decides what to do.

" We can't survive another year like this, " said Whittaker, who has contacted

state, federal and county officials for help.

Workers believe the problems may be from flood and sewer-system damage to

the building during a 1996 flood. They claim the wet insulation and rugs

were never replaced.

Last year, the title abstractors paid for an environmental study of the

courthouse. The report prompted the state to fund a second report that found

high levels of bacterial contamination in parts of the building.

Abstractor Komisarek, 41, of Candia, says anything less than a total

rebuild won't be enough. He worked at the building for a year before his

symptoms got bad enough to leave for good.

" The county should get the workers out of there, " he said. " If they don't,

the recourse would be to bring a lawsuit. "

Commissioner Don Hill of the state Department of Administrative Services

said the department may develop a course of action in the next two weeks. He

also said additional, highly specialized testing is necessary.

As for criticism of the state dragging its feet, Hill said the state wants

to see the job done correctly so contamination does not recur. While the

existing tests pinpointed some high bacteria areas, it didn't identify a

cause, he said. He also doesn't believe gutting the building is necessary.

" (From) everybody I've talked to, this isn't life-threatening, " he said. " To

the best of my knowledge, there's no need for that even based on initial

testing. "

Some say relocating employees and closing down the building is not as easy

as it sounds.

" This is not the type of operation where we can say, 'Oh yeah, we'll stick

everybody in a warehouse,' " said Register of Probate Christie Jr.

" Number one would be finding a place, and two, we're hard-wired into

Concord. We can't move in 10 minutes. It's not that simple. "