- April 26, 2024
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The Sheriff's Operations Center on State Road 100 — evacuated since June 2018 after more than 30 employees there filed workers compensation claims reporting skin rashes and respiratory problems, and the building was found to have mold — is fixable, according to a report provided to the county government by Terracon Consulting.
"Based on our evaluation to date, if the recommendations included in the report are implemented and confirmed complete, the building should be ready for re-occupancy," the Terracon report states. (View the full report HERE.)
But the sheriff is not interested in that option, and county commissioners have already made plans for other accommodations for FCSO staff.
"There are so many asterisks on that report, and they admit that this is a snippet in time for their testing," Staly said. "Unless the county will certify to me in writing that that is a safe building, my employees are not going to be a human Petri dish. ... They could put millions more into that building and they'll still not know if it's safe."
He added, "I have to look out for the taxpayers, but also it's my responsibility to stand up for my employees. I don't think that they [the county] can convince me and my employees that that is a safe building."
The county government is legally responsible for providing space for the sheriff's operations. It owns the Operations Center building, which was previously a hospital and sat vacant for years before the county bought it in 2013 and had it renovated for use by the Sheriff's Office.
"Unless the county will certify to me in writing that that is a safe building, my employees are not going to be a human Petri dish."
— RICK STALY, Flagler County sheriff
After the building was evacuated and mold found, the county decided decided in April to have a new facility constructed for the sheriff on Palm Coast Parkway near the county library building. The county is referring to the proposed structure as an FCSO Palm Coast branch location, but it would house the sheriff's command staff, as the prior Operations Center had.
Staly said he believed that decision was "the correct path to protect my employees."
In the meantime, FCSO staff are divided between the county courthouse and the old jail administrative building.
Terracon staff visited the Operations Center multiple times between June 28 and July 30, 2019, testing the air for mold, checking for moisture under the flooring and in the building's concrete slab, and for checking mold and bat droppings in wall cavities.
They found high moisture in the slab, mold spores on the older wood of the structure's frame, and bat guano in a wall.
The report warns, repeatedly, "There is no consensus on the number of fungal spores per cubic meter of air that may cause adverse health effects. It should also be noted that the presence of detectable concentrations of airborne mold spores within occupied spaces does not necessarily negatively impact indoor air quality."
It recommends that the county take the following steps:
County Commissioner Greg Hansen said it might be worth rehabilitating the structure for some future use — but not by the Sheriff's Office.
"Key to the whole thing is, what is it going to cost?" he said. "There's a maximum point where we just need to say it's too much money."
If the building is rehabilitated, though, it would be used, he said — potentially for county departments currently operating out of the Government Services Building that could use some more space.
"You can rest assured that it will be safe if we rehabilitate it," Hansen said. "We will go to the ends of the earth to ensure that it's safe."
