By JESSIE HORTON
TheFlashToday.com NEWS & SPORTS – FREE & LOCAL
DUBLIN (August 5, 2015) — Mold has overtaken Dublin City Hall. So much so that city staff is moving out so an environmental agency can come in and ‘scrub’ everything.
Dublin City Administrator Nancy Wooldridge assured the public that there is no current danger to anyone coming in’s health and said she and her staff would remain in the building, keeping it open until CenturyLink could come move the technology and phone lines to the new location. Wooldridge said the mold grew in the building following the April storms that damaged a large portion of the roof and the rain that continued through June expounded the problem.
“Dr. (Rodney) Schneider (Dublin ISD) has very graciously agreed to let city hall staff move into their old administration building located at 420 N. Camden Street,” Wooldridge said Wednesday morning. “We’ve spoken with CenturyLink and they understand the need for urgency, but said they would let us know when they could get to us. At this point we’re stuck here until CenturyLink arrives because we need the phone lines and the technology to run day-to-day operations.”
Wooldridge said she and her staff have been working with the Texas Municipal League, which covers the city of Dublin like insurance for these types of emergencies, and an environmental organization that is helping test the air and the mold to ensure safety above all else.
“We are working closely with both TML and the environmental organization who is constantly making sure the air is safe and everything we move out of here is clean. The safety of our staff and our residents who use these offices to pay their bills and handle other day-to-day business in city hall is the most important thing,” Wooldridge said. “I’ve been told residents coming and going to pay bills or have an hour long meeting in the offices will not be at risk. At this point, we’re being told the mold is not an overall risk unless there is prolonged exposure.”
So Dublin City Hall will remain open for regular business until they can move; then they will resume business at 420 N. Camden Street (the old DISD Admin Building). Once CenturyLink arrives on scene, Wooldridge said her staff will close city hall, phone, computers and printers will be ‘scrubbed’ and moved and her staff will resume regular hours in the new building, where they will remain until the entirety of city hall has been cleaned, scrubbed and repaired.
The Dublin Police Department will also be displaced due to the mold and the cleanup required. Wooldridge said the PD would be moved to the Public Works Building, located at the corner of S. Norton Street and Old Harbin Road (or FM350 and FM 847).
“They’re going to have to go through there and scrub every pencil, file folder, everything,” Wooldridge said of the clean up. “City Hall has literally been taken over by this mold. But we’re looking at this as a positive, as a catalyst for a much needed facelift for our facility. Thank God we’re blessed enough to have insurance to cover the majority of the cost and we live and work in a wonderful community where the administration of the local school district takes us in when we need help. We’ll get city hall clean and get back in there, until then, we’ll be just fine.”
She said her main concerns currently were making sure the citizens of Dublin were informed and that everyone’s safety was paramount.
“We want the people of Dublin to know that we are open and will be until we can move, that we’ll get moved as quick as possible and get back to serving the community. And that until we move, it is safe to come and conduct business in city hall,” she concluded. “But, I do understand this creates a bit of a hardship on our residents and therefore we will be waving the late fee on Monday, Aug. 10, because we understand we may not be open when you need to come pay that bill and that isn’t your fault. We just want to remind everyone to please be patient and bare with us as we go through this rough few days.”
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