Second round of environmental testing could begin next week
Most of the employees stationed at the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Operations Center in Bunnell will begin relocating next week with some moving into the Kim C. Hammond Justice Center, according to preliminary plans from Flagler County officials.
The rest of the workers will be transferred to the Sheriff’s Office’s former administration building on the campus of the Flagler County jail on Justice Lane.
About 60 deputies and civilian employees are stationed at the operations center, 901 E. Moody Blvd., Bunnell, and at least 27 of them have filed worker's compensation claims amid concerns that the building is making them sick.
Sheriff Rick Staly emailed workers a tentative timeline for relocation late Wednesday afternoon that indicates a second round of testing on the building will begin next Thursday. Meanwhile, he said workers would start moving into offices at the Bunnell courthouse less than a quarter-mile east of the operations center.
“I have directed that sections and units be moved as intact groups if at all possible and that we start with areas located in the east end of the building,” Staly wrote.
Staly said he authorized a few emergency evacuations to the detention center administration building, and said county officials continue to finalize the plans.
Four detectives working in the same office in the east wing of the building became ill in November, developing similar symptoms such as rashes, hives, itching, headaches, fatigue, and respiratory disorders.
County officials responded last year by hiring ServPro to test and restore the investigators’ office, as well as an IT office that shares the same air-conditioning vent. Both were quarantined for inspection, which revealed no mold spores but small amounts of two different mold species in the detectives’ office and one in the IT office were detected.
Complaints about the building resurfaced last month and worker's compensation claims mushroomed.
County officials have hired Dr. Zdenek Hejzlar, a Fort Myers environmental scientist who specializes in environmental and toxic health, to conduct tests at the operations center to identify the source of any contaminants that may be causing the symptoms, at a cost of about $18,000.
The 35,000-square-foot operations center is on the former site of Memorial Hospital-Flagler, which served as the county’s lone hospital for 40 years. The site was purchased in 2013 for $1.23 milliion and the building was renovated and converted into the Sheriff’s Office’s main hub in 2015 at a cost of more than $5 million.
In March, county officials released a mold study completed by Mold-Spec, an Ormond Beach company, that concluded the air quality was good after company workers collected air samples from 22 different areas inside the building at 901 E. Moody Blvd. Each of the samples showed common allergen levels lower than those found outside the building.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.