The mold problem in the inmate shower areas at the Fayette County Jail should soon be a thing of the past. Fayette County commissioners on April 12 approved a bid to remediate the problem.
Commissioners in October authorized the funds to research and remediate the mold in the various shower areas in the jail. The vote Thursday night awarded Mallet Consulting to serve as the project manager and MC’s Painting to handle the mold remediation and repairs in the shower areas.
The October authorization included $77,837 from existing jail funds and $11,163 from the county’s General Fund to fund the project. But low-bidder MC’s Painting was $69,100 and was recommended for approval by Mallett Consulting. Mallett’s estimated cost as project manager is $7,100 plus an hourly fee for construction monitoring.
The project will involve removing the mold, coating the shower walls and floors with a urethane/epoxy material and replacing items such as grills and vents that are to be constructed of stainless steel.
Observations by inspectors with FCW, LLC Mold Solutions noted mold staining on the wall of the showers as well as organic stain on the shower ceilings. Noting the limited number of areas tested for mold, County Administrator Jack Krakeel asked about the remaining 19 areas identified for remediation.
“They only tested a couple of cell blocks but mold was visible in every shower area,” jail supervisor Maj. Charles Cowart said. Mold species found in the shower areas included aspergillus, cladosporium and fusarium.
According to IPG, Inc. architect Jim Ingram in a Sept. 22 letter the jail has been in operation for approximately eight years. The shower walls originally had a glazed wall coating. This coating is reported to have failed after about five years of use and was re-coated with an unknown product using inmate labor. The second coating is coming off in large flakes with mold growing on and under this coating, Ingram said.
MC’s Painting was one of two bids received for the project. The high bid came of $231,963 from Trammel-Horton. Mallett in its communication with the county said the low bidder is qualified and competent to complete the work as bid.
Asked after the meeting about any reported inmate illness due to the presence of the mold, Krakeel said that to his knowledge there had been none.
