TRUMBULL COUNTY Panel will study move for agency

The health department's moldy basement was never fixed.
WARREN -- A committee will examine how to get the Trumbull County Health Department out of its leaking, mold-infested building on Chestnut Avenue N.E.
Although the health department is independent from county commissioners, commissioners are required by state law to house the agency.
"We are not denying you need another building or something," said Commissioner James G. Tsagaris.
The committee to look at new sites will include a member of the board of health, a representative of health department employees and one county commissioner.
Mold discovered
Commissioners discussed moving the health department out of the Chestnut Avenue building last year, after poisonous mold was discovered in the basement.
Health department officials turned down space available in the Wean Building on North Park Avenue because areas which could be used for the clinic were not easily accessible to the public, said health commissioner Dr. James Enyeart.
The Chestnut Avenue building is, for the most part, not handicapped-accessible either.
There's no elevator. The front steps are crumbling. The department's name was removed from the facade after a few of the letters fell down.
Window casements leak in the rain and a wastepaper basket is set in front of Enyeart's office door to catch a drip from the ceiling.
Then there's the basement, which was sealed last year when poisonous mold was discovered growing behind the walls.
Still sealed
It is still sealed and has only been improved to the extent that would allow the furnace to run without spreading spores.
Simply removing the health nuisance caused by the mold would cost $30,000, according to a bid received last year. That doesn't include putting interior walls back up or fixing the water problem that allowed the mold to flourish, Enyeart said.
It would cost another $50,000 to return the basement to office space after mold is removed, he said.
Commissioners said the high cost of renovation made it an unlikely alternative.
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