Kennewick building to get air-quality upgrade

Ross A. Courtney
Yakima Herald-Republic

Links
Email_black_18  E-mail           Print_black_18  Print           
Advertisement

More 'Local'

  1. Avalanche control impedes traffic
  2. Right Pro Hardware closing after 15 years
  3. Wapato homicide is county's 20th this year
  4. Woman's family sues for medical negligence
  5. Recount for Selah CIty Council race is Dec. 7
  6. Shortfall may force budget cuts in Wapato
  7. Local job growth gets a financial lift
More Stories:   Today's News | This Week

By ROSS COURTNEY

YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

PROSSER -- While insisting the building is safe, Benton County Commissioners agreed to replace air ducts and install new equipment in the heating and air conditioning system of a Kennewick office that some employees have vacated over concerns about air quality.

At a Monday meeting at the Benton County Courthouse in Prosser, the commissioners directed county staff to seek bids to improve an air system that employees say has made them sick.

"We're not going to leave things the way they are," said Commissioner Claude Oliver.

The county will seek bids with construction due to start in about three weeks.

Last week, county assessor Barbara Wagner moved eight employees from her Kennewick office to Prosser
after reading a November engineer's report listing higher than usual mold counts in one of the air ducts that serve her office.

The report, written by industrial hygiene engineering firm The Empirical Company, found 9,531 mold spores in the duct serving the assessor's office, compared to only 799 spores outside and 67 in the treasurer's office duct. While there's not an exact threshold for spore counts that raise health concerns, air quality specialists take note when one area of a building has 10 times the number of spores as other areas. In the case of the assessor's office, its spore count was 142 times higher than the treasurer's.

Prosser is the Benton County seat, but the county offers services in the Tri-Cities where there are more people. A building at 5600 Canal Drive in Kennewick houses employees of the assessor, treasurer and auditor, building department workers and Washington State University extension employees.

The assessor's office and the building department's sections of the structure, usually called the Kennewick annex, are served by a 60-year-old ventilation system that has some malfunctioning carbon-dioxide sensors and fiberglass-insulated air ducts, while the other three departments receive air from a newer system with sheet metal air ducts, which are easier to clean.

At Monday's meeting, commissioners pointed to a letter from the Empirical Company saying the building was safe for employees to work in unless they already had respiratory problems. However, they agreed to make improvements to go "above and beyond" the firm's recommendations, said Commissioner Leo Bowman.

Still, Wagner does not plan to move anyone back to the office until the repairs are done.

Wagner's employees told commissioners Monday they are sick and keep getting sick from working in the building.

Howard Bell, an appraiser, told commissioners he has suffered ear and sinus infections for two years costing him about 200 hours of work. Lisa Bodey, an office manager and personal property deputy, said "her eyes burn pretty much from when I get there to when I leave."

She has felt fine since moving to the Prosser office, she added.

Wagner also asked the commissioners to replace the carpet and possibly rebuild portions of a wall that had a high mold spore count.

Commissioners say they are willing to make some upgrades, but are reluctant to spend too much money on a building due for expansion anyway sometime in the next two or three years.

* Ross Courtney can be reached at 837-1462 or rcourtney@yakimaherald.com.