Copyright M Live Michigan
FLINT, MI -- City Council members have taken the initial step toward investigating the air quality inside the Flint Police Department headquarters after complaints about the potential for mold in that part of the city’s aging municipal complex. Council members gave initial approval on Wednesday, Nov. 5, to a resolution that calls for the city to test for mold and other hazards in the building, an action they could finalize when they meet next week. “The Police Department and a lot of buildings have had mold at one time,” 6th Ward Councilwoman Tonya Burns said after requesting and introducing the resolution on Wednesday. “We have had a lot of people who, when they retired, have stated the air quality had been bad, and nothing has been done,” Burns said. “We expect (officers to risk) their lives each day they come in ... One thing we can do is make sure their air is safe to breathe.” A city spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the council proposal on Thursday, Nov. 6, but John Cramer, president of the Flint Police Officers Association, said employees have been concerned about air quality in the headquarters building for years. “Most of us try to lead a good and healthy life,” Cramer said. “It is a concern for most of us. We want the same clean air as anyone else.” The Police Department building on Fifth Street was built as a part of Flint’s City Hall complex in the late 1950s. Conceived by Robert Moses, an internationally known city planner from New York state, the complex is laid out like a small college campus and includes five buildings -- City Hall, City Hall South, City Hall North, a small domed auditorium, police headquarters, and fire headquarters. Cramer said the Police Department building has routinely flooded in recent years, with water sometimes leaking down from the building’s third floor to its basement, where water is mopped up or collected in buckets and garbage cans. The water “turns into mold and mildew,” Cramer said, and officers have been concerned enough to have filed a complaint about the conditions about two years ago with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA responded to the complaint with recommendations, the FOAP president said, but the problem hasn’t been alleviated. Mayor Sheldon Neeley has previously responded to concerns about conditions inside city buildings, proposing to spend $500,000 to investigate and mitigate potential health and safety issues in 2023. Neeley hasn’t campaigned for a new City Hall, but has also suggested for several years that the time has come to talk about it. The mayor mentioned the need to study the feasibility of replacing the municipal complex in a 2023 strategic budgeting plan, during his State of the City address that same year, and in the budget adopted by the City Council in June. His request for $500,000 to investigate potential safety issues in 2023 was adopted by the City Council after two employees in the city Clerk’s Office said they were exposed to mold that made them sick. Air quality testing of the Clerk’s Office was negative for Stachybotrys chartarum -- a greenish-black mold that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says can grow on material with a high cellulose content, such as fiberboard, gypsum board, and paper. Additional information about the mediation of water damage in that office was not immediately available on Thursday. Flint’s municipal center was dedicated Aug. 15, 1958, becoming the third home for a city hall since Flint was founded in 1855, according to Flint Journal files. Although it was hailed as futuristic when it was dedicated, the complex shows signs of old age and limited reinvestment both inside and out, despite periodic updates since it was constructed.
