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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Ind. Gov't. - "Leaky roof a catalyst for moldy record books in Boonville"

Lydia X. McCoy reports today in the Evansville Courier & Press:

BOONVILLE, Ind. — Row after row of old record books fills the former Carquest building on Boonville's Main Street.

The county has been using the small, brick building for storage, but a leaky roof has left the items in moldy disarray.

Now county officials have to figure out the answers to a number of questions: What can be thrown away? What needs to be kept? Where do you store them — and future records — to keep them safe?

"It's no surprise to anyone that the records are in such bad shape because of the mold and the rain and everything that has damaged them over the years," said Circuit Court Judge David Kelley, who is also the chairman of the county's records retention commission, during a recent meeting. * * *

Warrick County Commissioners President Don Williams said that body found out about the moldy records several weeks ago.

"We had no idea those records were out there like that ... the pictures that I saw were not good," he said. "We have to have a more secure area for our records."

The problem was discovered when some children were spotted on the roof of the building after an ice storm earlier this year. When one of the county's maintenance workers went on the roof to check things out, he discovered a hole in the roof.

The hole wasn't repaired, in part because the county was debating future uses for the building, and with the spring's rains, more and more records became wet and started molding.

"We knew there was no heat and no cooling in there," Weisheit said. "Everybody knew it leaked, but we didn't know it was ever in such bad shape."

Before the Judicial Center was built about 10 years ago, old records were stored off site with a company called Kinder for $6,000 a year. The records were given a bar code and put in inventory. After the Judicial Center was built, it was decided the $6,000 could be saved by storing the records at an off-site building owned by the county.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 30, 2008 10:51 AM
Posted to Indiana Government