County outlines mold testing and remediation; HR flags employee safety and staffing impacts

Brandon (facilities staff) told the board that after a report on Sept. 3 and another on Sept. 8 staff replaced suspect filters, deep-cleaned HVAC units with mold inhibitors, sealed removed filters for lab testing and performed air-sample testing. He said the filter swab "did show signs of mold" while the air sample taken in the courthouse showed no elevated counts and no remediation was recommended for the courthouse air sample.

SERVPRO Dubuque conducted a broader inspection and staff are awaiting lab results from West Campus testing; Brandon recommended following professional mitigation steps and placing the two affected units on the CIP for replacement. Human Resources (Chelsea) said two employees had reported health concerns and were not at work on-site; she asked for written communication about mitigation, clear PPE procedures for any in-house cleanup, and an inventory of units for scheduling replacements. Staff reported courthouse humidity at roughly 57% during testing and West Campus readings near 71–72% when the unit was failing.