County staff will investigate whether poor air exchange in the 1974 courthouse building is making some employees sick, but some say fixing the problem could be spendy.

Saturday, April 21, 2001

County staff will investigate whether poor air exchange in the 1974 courthouse building is making some employees sick, but some say fixing the problem could be spendy.

Sheriff’s office employees have been complaining of health problems, said Freeborn County Sheriff Don Nolander, but no air quality assessment has yet been done to determine if those illnesses are related to the air in the Law Enforcement Center.

The air handling system meets Department of Corrections code for prisoners, and works correctly, but has become inadequate as the county remodels and adds more employees, said Randy Jensen, Freeborn County Building Maintenance Supervisor.

&uot;There are some air quality issues that we need to address,&uot; he said.

It was common in the 1970s to build structures, like the 1974 building, without windows to open, Jensen said. Later, people realized the design made the structures prone to &uot;sick building syndrome.&uot;

&uot;I don’t think we’ve got a sick building over there, but I’d like to check that out too,&uot; Jensen said.

But according to Nolander, an architect said revamping the system could cost as much as $1 million.

Commissioners this week asked Jensen to have someone inspect the system and report back to the board.

&uot;It’s going to have to be fixed no matter what,&uot; said Commissioner Mark Behrends. &uot;Because more than likely someone is going to stay here even if we do move to another building.&uot;