Mary Mascher
A state-owned building where turkey pans were positioned to capture water leaks has black mold.
Governor Terry Branstad has toured the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy and got a briefing on mold removal.
“I’m not aware that it’s made people sick at this point, but I think it’s important that we do everything we can to remediate the mold situation and take appropriate action so people don’t become sick,” Branstad says.
Law Enforcement Academy leaders want to move employees to another building nearby and it’s unclear what state officials may do with the facility. Representative Mary Mascher, a Democrat from Iowa City, says the governor and legislators need to “start getting serious” about finding money in the state budget to fix these kind of problems.
“When it comes to the health and safety of employees, that should be held to a higher level,” Mascher says.
For example, about 500 state employees work in the dilapidated Wallace State Office Building. A few of those employees have plastic sheets covering their desks, connected to tubes that drain water leaks into a bathroom. State agencies calculate there is nearly $700 million worth deferred maintenance projects in state-owned buildings.