HEALTH DEPARTMENT Officials again table decision on building
The building has a host of problems, including toxic mold and a leaky roof.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- After two years of on-and-off deliberation, Trumbull County commissioners have again postponed deciding where to move roughly 30 health department employees whose building has been infected by mold, flooded with water and poorly heated.
By a 2-1 vote Wednesday, commissioners put off accepting a bid from Park Porter Ltd. to lease to the health department new office space on North Park Avenue for $78,500 a year for 10 years. This was the second time commissioners put the lease out to bid.
Commissioner Dan Polivka said he wanted to investigate rehabilitating the health department's current building on Chestnut Avenue before renting someplace new.
The building suffers from problems including an untreated toxic mold infestation in the basement, which floods during heavy rain, a leaky roof, unsafe front stairs, leaking windows and failure-prone furnaces, telephones, electric and plumbing systems. "They constantly balk at repairing anything because they say it is wasted money and we are moving," Health Commissioner Dr. James Enyeart said.
Health, safety concerns
He detailed the problems in the building in a letter sent to commissioners last week. Enyeart said the department could not go through another winter in the building, where last year the temperature at times dipped below 60 degrees.
"Our workers are dedicated to the health and safety of the county and we have to work in an unhealthy building," he said. "I think they have been polite, they have been considerate and they have been neglected."
Polivka, who was appointed commissioner in January, said he thought it might make financial sense to rehabilitate the Chestnut Avenue building for a cost he estimated at $250,000, rather than pay nearly $800,000 over 10 years on a lease.
When the board considered rehabilitation in the past, it worried that costs could be driven up if the county is required to add an elevator to make it handicapped-accessible. Soon after mold was discovered in the building in 2002, commissioners asked the health department to consider moving into the county-owned Wean Building on North Park Avenue, but the plan fell through because of problems with the available space.
Resolution of intent
The commissioners passed a resolution last summer stating their intentions to find the health department new accommodations.
"I don't have any idea why it took so long," Commissioner James Tsagaris, who voted with Polivka to put off awarding a bid, said. "It never works fast."
If the commissioners decide to pursue rehabilitating the building, the first step would be to hire an architect, who would conduct a study, county administrator Tony Carson said.
Commissioner Joseph J. Angelo Jr., who was in favor of renting from Park Porter, said it will probably take three or four months to study rehabilitation.
"We have got to do something," Angelo said. "The safety of people who work for Trumbull County comes first."