A flurry of e-mails are going around among county board members regarding the mold in the county nursing home. You can read the news-gazette account from a month ago here.
However, it looks like things have changed since then. First, the insurance policy for the county may not cover the cost. Second, the cost could be much higher, as much as $1 million. And if the county is not able to recover the costs in a suit, then taxpayers will foot the bill.
County board members are mad because some feel like they haven't been given the whole story. And if you go to the County Board website you'll see that while the news article says the problem started in February, it never was raised at a county board meeting until May.
So will the county pursue suing the contractors? Also, will people shy away from the "best" nursing home in the county if it has a problem with mold.
The courthouse project ended up being way over the original estimates, but no one noticed because it is being paid for with the sales tax. However, the nursing home project is all being paid for by the property tax. A million more on the property tax will make be noticed, especially if it's caused by a screw up by the board.
Is the mold in the new part or the old part?
County gov't shouldn't be in the nursing home business - we should have sold instead of expanded, but our "compassionate" voters couldn't see past the propoganda. Now we will all pay.
The mold was on lumber used in building the new facility. The assumption (among County people, at least) is that it came from the lumber supplier, and was brought on-site. The building was partially completed before it was discovered, so they've had to go back to treat lumber already within the walls.
The mold itslef shouldn't be a problem in the long-run, but the cost could become a problem, if the County has to cover it. Sounds to me like that's unlikely, but only time will tell.
Thanks for the info.
When are the county board members going to start being fiscally responsible in Champaign County? I'm with RSW, let's get the government out of areas that are best left to private enterprises.
I often surprised that our Republican county board members, lately, don't seem to embrace this concept.