Commissioners Discuss Mold Removal
The Glasscock County Commissioners’ Court, meeting in regular session Nov. 13, heard a report concerning removal of mold from the courthouse basement and from the clerk’s office and records rooms. The basement room, which is approximately 10 X 12 feet in size and 9 feet tall, is directly under the southeast portion of the records room and is accessed through a small door in the records room floor. County/District Clerk Becky Batla says it is the only below-ground-level room in the courthouse.
Batla says the basement room has been damp and moldy as long as she has been in office, but the odor of mold has gotten much worse in the records room lately. She said out-of-town people who periodically work in the courthouse are complaining about it, and of becoming ill after several hours in the records room. She said there is nothing of historical value in the basement room, mentioning some never-used records books, and lots of old receipts.
Tony Strong, a project engineer for Texas Consulting Services in Midland, told the court the problem was caused by water from outside running down the wall over time. He said the basement room looks like there has been a heavy snowfall in it, with everything covered in white. He said the level of contamination in the records room and clerk’s office is significant and could pose a health concern to people who are elderly, ill, or very young.
Basement Contents to be Removed
He said remediation will include removing all paper products from the basement room and disposing of them, cleaning the room, the records room, and clerk’s office so that all are mold-free and “hospital-room clean.” He said the work will be done in a manner approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, with workers in hazardous material suits and oxygen-equipped masks when they clear the basement.
Strong said immediately after cleaning, the basement room itself would either have to be filled with concrete, filled with sand and capped with cement, or air-conditioned to prevent future growth of mold. He said an architect with the Texas Historical Commission was opposed to filling with concrete, and said filling with sand would be okay as a last resort, preferring air conditioning/ventilating the room. But commissioners said that was too expensive for a room that would never be used.
Strong gave a cost of $27,200 for his consulting and for the firm (Advanced Environmental Services) who will do the cleaning. Costs for replacing the carpet in the clerk’s office and records room and for filling the basement room with sand or concrete were not included in his price.
County commissioners and Deputy Keith Burnett discussed the possibility of filling the room with sand after it is cleaned and safe. The sand might be put through the room’s ground-level window, using jail inmate labor and county equipment.
The court will discuss the matter again at a called meeting Nov. 16 at 8:30 a.m.