POTTSVILLE -- A petri dish in the Schuylkill County Sheriff's Office, on the first floor of the courthouse, shows what's been growing there.
It was brought in last week by the Sheriff and put in the Sheriff Department's office to get a glimpse at what might be in the air.
"After four days, and I started seeing what's accumulating in that bowl there. I thought, we definitely got a mold problem here," said Sheriff Joseph Groody.
Groody suspected there was a mold issue in the office after seeing some growing out of the air vents, and after, he noticed a pattern among his staff.
"After several of my deputies getting sick constantly, I brought it up at a safety meeting. Then, I took it upon myself to bring it up and start questioning things. After more people got sick, we ended up doing our own independent air quality test with the petri dish," Groody added.
The county had several companies come out and test the air quality in the courthouse. Concerning levels of radon were found, but nothing considered dangerous.
Some of the mold was sent out for testing. One of those companies estimates it will cost about $50,000 just to abate the radon levels here.
The County Commissioners will have a meeting Wednesday and get recommendations on what to do about some of the concerns over air quality in the Schuylkill County Courthouse.
