By Annabeth Miller,
ShowMe Times Editor

BLOOMFIELD - Stoddard County officials have a new “opponent” to fight in the county’s facilities. Late last week, county commissioners were informed of - and took the first steps to fight - the growth of mold in one of the county’s facilities.

“We have a mold problem at the Justice Center,” Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis said at Monday’s weekly meeting of the County Commissioner. Mathis said commissioners were notified last week that mold is growing in the ventilation system in the Justice Center. Commissioners contacted architect Dale Rogers to find out what steps needed to be taken to correct the situation. The architect of the Justice Center was the late Harold Porterfield of Poplar Bluff.

“We immediately called Tetra Tech,” Mathis said. Tetra Tech is a provider of consulting, engineering, and technical services worldwide. The team responding to the Stoddard County situation is based in Collinsville, Ill. “They were doing a job in Fulton at that time and on Wednesday they pushed a man loose and sent him (to Bloomfield).”

Mathis reported the TetraTech technician took more than 20 samples as well as air samples from the Justice Center. The samples were delivered to EMSL Analytical of St. Louis and studies were conducted, Mathis said.

Representatives from Tetra Tech, Dale Rogers, a fungal clean up company and Langford Sheet Metal from Jackson, a St. Louis-based mechanical engineering group will meet with county officials.

“At that time they will talk about our heating and cooling system we have in the Justice Center to see if they can see any issues with it,” Mathis said. Langford Sheet Metal did the heating and air system in the County Government Building; Buffington Brothers from Poplar Bluff did the system in the Justice Center.

“The gentleman from Tetra Tech will present a plan of action tomorrow (Tuesday),” Mathis said. The plan will inform the county of what is growing in the system as well as a plan to clean the system and disinfecting of the ductwork.

“All the employees have been notified of everything that’s going one over there from the get-go” Mathis said. “So the bottom line is we’re going to get an evaluation, we’re going to get the problem fixed up and see what we need to do to more forward and correct it to where the heating and air conditioning works properly.”

Mathis said some shuffling is being done to be able to conduct business in areas not affected by the mold.

Last week Commissioners Carol Jarrell and Frank Sifford met with representatives of Union Pacific Railroad concerning a number of rural railroad crossings in the county. Crossings inspected late last week include the ones on County Roads 967,708, 702, 567- 551, and 331.

“They told me that over there by 967 (near Fisk), those trains run 70 to 75 miles per hour,” Sifford said.

“While we were covering these roads, there were trains that came through at more than 60 miles per hour,” Jarrell said. “They said it would probably be a year or more down the road, but they are going to put gates and lights on all these crossings.”

In other business Monday morning:

• Presiding Commissioner Mathis reported that plastic shields have now been placed over the thermostats in offices in the Justice Center; he said he spoke to many of the Justice Center employees concerning the shields.

• Commissioners received the sales tax report, which showed the county was up in sale tax receipts approximately $25,000 over August 2010 and $86,000 up for the year.

• Commissioner Sifford reported he has been working on the cleaning out of Ditch 13 southeast of Advance. Sifford said there is a possibility of a cleaning out about 3,600 feet of the ditch and save the ditch district $5-7,000 on the project.

Photo Above: Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis discusses how the county plans to address the mold that has grown in the Stoddard County Justice Center. (SMIT Photo by Annabeth Miller)