Alex Walters
The mold on the fourth floor of the Creek County courthouse has been cleaned up during restorations according to county commissioners, and up next is the leaky copper roof.
Newt Stephens of District #1 stated the roof, believed to be from the ’70s, is just two ends soldered together, and the walls run against the roof in bad design. In order to keep mold from coming back, the roof needs to be repaired, not continuous patch jobs. The designs and bid specs from an engineer would run around $23,900. There are not many people who work on copper roofs anymore, either, according to the board. The board anticipates a hefty cost to replace or repair the roof, but despite all their efforts to patch and repair the roof remains a problem. “Several we just can’t get ahead of,” Stephens spoke of some of the larger leaks from the roof. There was an air quality test for mold in the Courthouse on Tuesday, as well.
Creek County Emergency Management is seeking a self-contained high-pressure water and foam fire suppression system for the back of their trucks to better fight fires. They seem to be hard to find, and the county is going to have to let the system out for bid in hopes they can still get one. There is one system already in the county, however, the training required to man the system makes it difficult to allow different fire districts to operate it. With this new system, the emergency department can assist nearly any department in the County with the other tools they have as well. The system is self-sufficient and has its own battery, all it needs is to be put on the truck and flip a switch. The option the emergency department is looking for is a system that puts out 12 gallons per minute with a total capacity of 150 gallons. It’ll run an estimated $30,000 for the county, and there are cheaper options but they don’t have the same capacity or pressure.
A small grassfire is all a 10 gallon could handle, according to the emergency department. The system would allow the department to reach fires that the big fire trucks can’t reach, helping provide further safety and security to the people of Creek County.
