Published: August 15, 2008 02:08 pm      

Employees feel ill as workers search for odor at M.L. Reisz building

Floyd County Commissioner Steve Bush ordered the M.L. Reisz building to be closed Thursday afternoon after several workers complained of being sick.

Bush, president of the commissioners, said the problem began earlier in the week after workers removed drywall and brick in search of a foul odor.

“We are trying to find the problem,” Bush said. “People are coughing and complaining of irritation in their throat. I am always going to err on the side of caution.”

Bush hopes to reopen the building Monday.

Tests for the source of the odor are ongoing.

“They had to remove some bricks and it kicked up a lot of dust,” he said.

The Reisz building, along Spring Street in New Albany, houses four county offices — adult probation, community corrections, emergency management and the soil and water conservation district.

The county purchased the building from the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. for $700,000 two years ago. It took more than a year, and around $500,000 to renovate it. Last November the 20 employees began moving into the building.

“This is the problem you run into when you buy an older building,” Bush said. “Hopefully, it won’t cost too much to repair the problem.”