Costs are soaring to repair Apalachicola Health Department building

The cost of repairing the Health department building in Apalachicola is a little bit higher than county officials thought.

Health department workers had to move out of the 10 year old building in early 2009 after it was discovered that high humidity in the building was causing mold to form. The mold poses a health hazard and some workers in the office did file workman’s comp claims because of it.

Currently health department services are being offered from the old school board building in Apalachicola.

In December, health department workers said the problem was that too much outside air was being allowed in through the air conditioning system. The fix will require the installation of a de-humidifier to the existing duct work. The building will also have to be cleaned of any mold.

At the time they estimated a cost of 160 thousand dollars to fix. That price, it turns out, was a little optimistic. The Health department says now that the 8 outdoor air handling systems will have to be replaces to which adds about 75 thousand dollars to the total cost.

The cost of the repairs is being shared between the county and the health department, but commissioners say they aren’t sure where the additional money will come from. They added that they won’t start taking bids for the work until they have a firm cost.

Once work does begin, the project is expected to take 4 to 5 months to complete.


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