Second round of environmental testing could begin next week; results could take months
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 off Justice Lane.
Nearly 70 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 a tentative timeline for relocation to workers late Wednesday afternoon that indicates a second round of testing on the building will begin June 14. He said Thursday that the agency’s investigations unit, victim advocates, executive staff, records, finance, and internal affairs departments will be moved temporarily into offices at the Bunnell courthouse, less than a quarter-mile east of the operations center. Meanwhile, the training and evidence departments will relocate to the jail administration building.
“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 Wednesday in his email.
County officials expect the transition out of the operations center to take about two weeks.
County Administrator Craig Coffey spent Thursday working on the logistics of the evacuation, figuring out exactly where each Sheriff’s Office unit will be moved. He said it could take one to three months to fully analyze the condition of the building.
Staly estimates his employees could be displaced longer, noting the massive shift will be “fairly disruptive” but he doesn’t expect any reduction in service.
“This is a major, Herculean effort to move 68 people out of a building and still maintain accreditation standards and our Criminal Justice Information System standards,” Staly said. “Operationally, I don’t think it’s going to change anything as far as how we deliver our service to the community. It is going to make it harder, but the community should not feel any reduction in services.”
Staly said he authorized emergency evacuations Wednesday for eight employees who were experiencing significant symptoms to move to offices at the jail’s headquarters.
Sheriff hires doctor
The Sheriff’s Office has hired a medical doctor of its own — University of Central Florida occupational safety specialist Stanley Haimes — to investigate workers' symptoms. He urged all employees who’ve filed claims to hand over their medical records, redacted if necessary, so specialists can review them.
Four detectives working in an office in the east wing of the operations center became ill in November, developing similar symptoms such as rashes, hives, itching, headaches, fatigue, and respiratory disorders.
County officials responded to the complaints 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 were detected in the detectives’ office and one in the IT office.
But complaints about the building resurfaced in May and worker's compensation claims have mushroomed.
County officials have hired Dr. Zdenek Hejzlar, a Fort Myers environmental scientist who specializes in environmental and toxic health, at a cost of about $18,000, to study the situation. His consulting firm, Engineering Systems Inc., or ESi, will conduct tests at the operations center to identify the source of any contaminants that may be causing the symptoms.
In a May 30 statement, Flagler County spokeswoman Julie Murphy indicated the county already has spent $29,000 on prior testing and remediations.
The 35,000-square-foot operations center is on the former site of Memorial Hospital-Flagler, which was first built in 1979 and served as the county’s primary medical center until it was vacated in 2002 with the opening of Florida Hospital Flagler. The county purchased the site in 2013 for $1.23 million and the building was renovated and converted into the main hub for the Sheriff’s Office 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.
Hezjlar is expected to take samples for two days next week and test for the presence of residual radiation, volatile organic compounds and heavy metals in the slabs of the building, according to a preliminary plan. He will also look for signs of ground moisture under the slabs that could be causing mold. Officials said the scope of testing could increase, depending on what’s found.
Hot-button issue
The condition of the operations center has become a hot-button issue in the midst of an election year. County commissioners during Monday’s workshop acknowledged it will be hard to erase the perception that the building is contaminated, even if testing is completed and experts deem it safe for occupancy.
Staly reiterated that concern Thursday.
“That’s my fear,” he said. “If the employees move back in there and their symptoms reappear, you will never be able to convince them that it's a safe building to work in. It will never happen.”
Coffey acknowledged that uphill climb and said he wants to alleviate workers' fears, but noted the county has to base its decisions on scientific evidence and facts. He noted tests would have to reveal a widespread problem in the building before county officials begin to consider scrapping the $6-million complex altogether.
“We want to address everything so we can confirm or debunk any and all concerns,” Coffey said Thursday. “If it’s a budgetary problem, you can put your arms around it and say this is what we do. If it’s in someone’s head, I don’t know how I rush in and fix that.
"If it’s a real problem and we determine that, we can rush in and fix that," he said. "But I can’t undo what somebody’s fearful of or thinking of.”