County is working on odor with urgency

Randy Tarr, Las Vegas

Saturday, April 5, 2008 | 2:01 a.m.

The Sun’s Monday story about a mysterious odor in an office at the Regional Justice Center omitted what the county is doing about it and didn’t convey our sense of urgency over a matter of great importance to our employees and customers.

Efforts to trace the source of the odor have included hiring firms to perform air quality and aerosol tests and an engineer to investigate the source of the problem, replacing nearby plumbing valves, installing new duct work and following through in a number of other tasks. The county has spent more than $100,000 on tests, repairs and experts to resolve this perplexing problem and sent maintenance crews to the justice center more than 100 times since this matter arose.

The county has completed all of the minimally destructive repairs to date. Still, a solution has been elusive. A maintenance worker has been assigned to work on this issue full time and help find the source of the odor. And we are looking to hire an outside contractor and undertake substantial demolition in our efforts to resolve this matter once and for all.

Meanwhile, we have encouraged employees who feel they may be getting ill to go to the doctor and get a medical waiver if need be. Despite space limitations, we have moved as many employees as we can. Fortunately, air quality tests show that the air meets EPA health standards.

Still, we understand that this recurrent odor has occasionally been unpleasant to customers and employees. This matter is a priority for us and we are working diligently to resolve it as quickly as possible.

The writer is Clark County’s director of real property management.