A disagreement over a carpet cleaning bid was finalized during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting at the Union County Courthouse.
The carpet at the juvenile court office, 211 N. Elm St., started to grow mold and needed to be cleaned to remove the health hazzard. It was also discovered the roof was leaking over the county’s rented space.
Union County leases the office space from MATURA. Marion James and Edward Jones also rent office space in MATURA’s building.
“It wasn’t asked if we would do this, we just pick up this bundle of stuff and here these (bids) are in here,” said Supervisor Chairman Lois Monday.
The “bundle” was two bids for carpet cleaning for $210 and $280 plus tax.
Monday said the mold developed because of a leak in the roof, and any damages from it would fall under the landowner’s responsibility.
“It is a draw right out of the taxpayers pocket and I don’t think we need to pay for that,” Monday said at Tuesday’s meeting. “That mold and stuff got in there not by your tenants doing, it was done by the roof or an outside source. Now if they (tenants) had upset paint or damaged something in there, I would say yes, we would have to pay for it, most certainly.”
MATURA Director Ron Ludwig disagreed, saying the roof damge was his responsibility, but if routine cleaning would have been taking place, mold would not have been able to develop.
“We felt we were doing the county a favor by charging the $4.25 (a square foot), which is what the previous landlord was charging,” Ludwig said. “Had the regular service and cleaning been done, that would have been noticed.”
According to the warranty deed, MATURA took control of the building Oct. 8, 2014, from LNI Properties, L.L.C.
“We were not made aware of any damage or issues that had occurred when we took ownership,” Ludwig said. “We asked. We are not going to look under every desk and chair.”
Supervisors Ron Riley and Dennis Brown supported paying the bill and elected to go with the $210 bid.
The bill will be split between Union, Adair and Adams counties by the same percentage they pay for the juvenille court services.