Despite health concerns, Roberts continues to work at office
While the rest of his staff has moved across town to temporary quarters in the Federal Building, Fayette County Controller Mark Roberts continues working in his courthouse office, undaunted by air quality concerns and a Greensburg microbiologist’s reported determination that “aspergillis” fungus lurks in the environment. Roberts said he’s displayed only mild forms of some of the symptoms that forced his staff from the office as a precautionary measure: mild eye and throat irritation, and “a little bit of a headache.”
Roberts was there Friday afternoon, driven by the need to use his office’s personal computer to do his work, while the rest of his staff worked at the Federal Building a few blocks away. Content in believing that a little extra time in the troublesome environment wouldn’t hurt him, Roberts said he nonetheless was striving to keep airflow to a minimum, forgoing use of air conditioning and using a private side door to enter and exit his office.
“I’ve already been exposed for a month, so a few more days, for my own sake I’m not terribly concerned about it getting more drastic,” said Roberts. “It’s very, very uncomfortable (here). I’ve been sitting here in my T-shirt half the time.
“Historically, I’m not (physically) sensitive to many things. I can’t remember the last time I threw up.”
His strong constitution aside, Roberts said he appreciates the work done by county manager Warren Hughes and Commissioners Vincent A. Vicites and Ronald M. Nehls in helping relocate his staff.
Roberts also said he is confident that carpet, ceiling tile, old document and wall dirt samples collected in plastic bags by one of his employees, account clerk Linda Burke, were not tainted before the yet-unnamed female microbiologist examined them.
“She’s a mutual friend of mine and Linda’s that heard and read things in the news, and contacted us and told us that the symptoms about which the employees were complaining were similar with exposure to this fungus and others,” said Roberts. “She offered to do a test for us for free. She’s actually in Greensburg. She’s a microbiologist in a lab.”
While this volunteer expert has deduced that aspergillis was present in each of the samples she tested, with the most serious form being “aspergillis fumigatus” found in the ceiling tile, Roberts said he isn’t ready to reveal her identity and she isn’t ready to release a formal report. He said both wouldn’t happen until after the county releases its final report on testing done by FACE Associates of Uniontown.
“When we do (release that information), everyone will know as plain as day who it is,” said Roberts of the microbiologist’s identity. “I wasn’t going to go anywhere with this until I had something in writing.”
Preliminary results of the FACE testing showed only dust in the air in the controller’s office, which uses space on two floors of the county courthouse. Roberts said Burke collected no air samples to forward to the microbiologist, as collecting those is difficult without a machine.
However, Roberts said the volunteer microbiologist who analyzed the plastic bag-wrapped samples “said every sample had a strain of aspergillis” and that “it’s a form of fungus or mold that can cause allergic reactions and I believe can also cause lung problems.”
Roberts speculated that the fungus or mold might have taken hold one or two years ago, before he took office in January 2000, when the floor above the controller’s office flooded. He theorized that since the ceiling tile was simply painted over and the carpet was never replaced, those items could be the source of the mystery irritant that has plagued his staff the past few weeks.
Roberts also said that he hopes the move to the Federal Building is only a temporary solution, as he believes that his office’s interaction with the public and other row offices necessitates that it be housed in the courthouse.
Commissioner Ronald M. Nehls, the county’s point man on the transaction that netted the Federal Building from the federal government for $1, said that will be the case. Nehls said the county has already committed the building’s space for other purposes, which was the driving force behind the acquisition.
“It’s certainly not a permanent solution,” said Nehls. “All of the space has been designated, in terms of use. And the controller’s office certainly wasn’t one of the uses.”
Nehls said that the commissioners “did everything we were supposed to do” and have “taken all the steps” needed to ensure the safety and well-being of Roberts’ employees. He added that he remains concerned about their health as well as his own.
“As a matter of fact, I have some of the symptoms myself. I don’t know if it might be coming from the building … but I have enough of a concern that people are saying that it is that we want to make sure,” said Nehls.
He described his symptoms as similar to the mouth and throat irritation one gets when installing fiberglass attic insulation. “It makes you cough and that sort of thing; it gets in your nose,” said Nehls.