Jamie Koerner

    The air quality on the third floor of the Seward County courthouse has been an issue for five years and a frustration to the courthouse employees and county commissioners for just as long.
     "It has been very frustrating because we are trying to accommodate what is asked for and no one is able to come up with definitive answers that we can rectify," Chairman Joe Ruzicka said.
     Jacque Stewart, Seward County clerk of the district court, who works on the third floor, said at the Oct. 23 Seward County commissioners' meeting that the air quality has been a continuous problem.
     "Monday is bad after the building has been closed up," Stewart said. "By Friday, it has a real effect on us. We start noticing it Monday and it just builds up."
     Attorney Greg Damman of Seward came to the meeting to speak on behalf of the third floor employees, express their concerns and give suggestions.
     Damman said that in a previous air quality report done by Terracon Consulting Engineers and Scientists in Omaha, the final review found no threatening problems with air quality on the third floor, but the report said that Terracon did not have the technology to test for two things – odorless volatile organic compounds (VOC) and heavy particulates. He said that it may be a good idea for the commissioners' to find a company that could test for odorless VOC and heavy particulates.
     Odorless VOCs are emitted as odorless "vapors or gases at ordinary temperatures from a variety of sources. Many are toxic," according to the Environmental Protection Agency website. "VOCs can be found in paint, upholstery, spray cans, copy machine toners, clothing and other sources. Health effects range from irritation of the eyes and respiratory system to kidney or liver damage, cancer or birth defects."
     Heavy "particulates" are solid or liquid particles suspended in the atmosphere, especially pollutants, according to Dictionary.com.
     Sheila Beins, clerk magistrate for the county court, a state office located on the third floor of the county courthouse, said that third floor employees have noted symptoms like dry or red eyes, headaches, sore throats and other allergy symptoms when they are on the third floor.
     She said she understands the commissioners' frustrations of trying to solve the problem.
     "The hardest part and where the commissioners' frustration comes from is there is nothing we can pinpoint," Beins said. "The symptoms are common to other things – if it is allergy related..., but everyone is not allergic to the same thing."
     Ruzicka said approximately 10 commissioners have worked to improve air quality on the third floor in the last five years, but the air quality complaints have not been resolved.
     Approximately $147,200 has been spent in the fight to improve air quality in the courthouse including a roof replacement; an energy recovery unit to pump filtered fresh air from outside, in; air quality tests by Terracon; ultra-violet light units used to kill 99.9 percent of microbes and anything that passes through air filters; replacement of ceiling tiles on third floor; fresh air machines; and an ozone machine to kill bacteria in the air, Mike Koci, Seward County courthouse maintenance manager, said.
     "There is nothing else that I can physically do," Koci said. "It is past anything a normal maintenance person can do."
     He said the biggest complaint he gets is that employees want to open windows, but a courthouse policy doesn't allow it. If the windows were opened it would defeat the purpose of running the heat, air conditioning or the energy recovery unit.
     When people working on the third floor leave the building, the symptoms subside after about an hour, Beins said. In addition, some people take over-the-counter allergy medicine that helps with the symptoms, she said.
     The issue came to the surface five years ago when a microfilmer was working in the courtroom on the third floor with the doors shut for about six hours, Beins said. He almost passed out, but after going outside his conditions improved.
     Then, the people on the third floor began comparing symptoms and found several similarities.
     The county commissioners were informed of the issue and since then no one has been able to find a solution to the problem.
     The most frustrating part is the lack of communication between the offices on the third floor and the county commissioners, Beins said.
     "I appreciate that they are trying to do something, but communication would be helpful," Beins said. "Our frustration has been the lack of communication back and forth. When we run into them we ask and sometimes we get answers and sometimes we don't."
     For now, there are not answers to the air quality problem on the third floor, but at the Oct. 23 meeting, the commissioners' authorized Commissioner Scott Stuhr to send three tests done by Terracon in 2002, 2005 and 2006 to Aon Risk Services of Nebraska in Omaha.
     Stuhr said he spoke with an employee of the company previously, who agreed that Aon would review the previous tests for no charge and give suggestions for further steps to improve air quality.