Health precautions DCF leaves Ocala office for employee safety concerns

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Health precautions

DCF leaves Ocala office for employee safety concerns

Ocala.com - Ocala,FL

BY SUSAN LATHAM CARR

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OCALA - As air testing was being conducted Friday, employees from

the state Department of Children & Families' West Silver Springs

Boulevard office were packing boxes to leave forever the building

they fear may be a " sick " building.

" While no tests have shown any sort of contamination at this point,

we are concerned because the testing company believes they will find

something in here, " DCF spokesman Al Zimmerman said. " And we are not

going to take any chances with the health of our employees or the

health of our clients, for that matter. So, we are closing this

place down, and we don't expect to be back here ever again. "

A number of employees have experienced headaches, difficulty

breathing, eye irritation, light-headedness, sneezing, nausea,

coughs and sore throats and are concerned that the building may be

to blame for their symptoms.

Six employees have filed air quality complaints and three have filed

workers' compensation complaints. One of the employees is a pregnant

woman. Another was told by her doctor not to return to the building.

Until a rental space large enough to accommodate all 90 employees

can be found in n County, five will work in a temporary service

center off Northeast 25th Avenue in Ocala, 16 employees will work at

home, two will work in the Inverness office, two will work in

Gainesville, 47 will work in the Wildwood office and the remainder

are still undecided, Zimmerman said. Employees who have to travel

out of n County will be reimbursed at $0.445 per mile. He said

car-pooling is encouraged.

People who need DCF assistance, such as food stamps, financial

assistance or Medicaid, may go to the temporary service center at

1601 N.E. 25th Ave., Suite 900. Or they may contact the ACCESS

Florida hotline toll-free at 1-866-762-2237 or online at

www.myflorida.com/accessflorida.

" Starting Monday, that office will be opened, " Zimmerman said. He

said child protective investigators will work from home so they will

be close by to answer any calls.

Although none of the employees approached Friday would comment, most

appeared happy to be leaving. Many offices have stained ceiling

tiles and carpeting. Some offices had air conditioning vents taped

so soot would not come out and had fans to cool themselves.

At least one office has a space between windows about 3/4 of an inch

wide through which water entered and dripped down the inside of the

wallboard.

That was a concern to McDonough, owner of the Lakeland firm of

SE McDonough and Associates Inc., which is doing the air testing.

" It's a very moldy odor behind the wall, " McDonough said.

McDonough's initial air testing found that the air quality in the

building was better than the outside air. But she said that those

tests were samples of small areas, such as inside offices.

More air testing was under way Friday to determine if any mold or

bacteria exists.

" Right now it says it's relatively clean, " McDonough said around mid-

day Friday. " The air is fine. But there are some conditions that are

here that would leave you to believe that there would be some mold

and bacteria problems in the building. "

McDonough said she has not seen any toxic mold but has seen the

allergenic type.

DCF has been leasing the 21,526-square-foot building at 3001 W.

Silver Springs Blvd. for 15 years, and is currently paying $28,701 a

month rent, on a month-to-month basis, Zimmerman said.

He said that DCF had plans to move from the building, which is in

the Interstate Office Park, within the year. The employees'

complaints have accelerated those plans.

He said DCF has had concerns " off-and-on for a long time " about the

building's condition.

" If we are not going to sign a long-term lease, they are not going

to put money into the building, " Zimmerman said. He said the

building is simply being maintained.

The building is owned by the Gail W. Curtis Trust in Gainesville and

is managed by JOTAR Management Services Inc. The person who answered

the phone at JOTAR Friday afternoon said that JOTAR Comptroller

Cacace was out of town and that no other members of the staff

were familiar with the property.

In an Aug. 7 e-mail to Jim Birch, facilities specialist at DCF,

Cacace wrote: " To the best of our knowledge, we are unaware

of 'mold' within any building at that location. "

_____

Latham Carr may be reached at susan.carr@... or

(352) 867-4156.