Schuylkill County Clerk of Courts Maria Casey on Wednesday demanded answers from commissioners to her concerns about mold she says is causing illness in her office.

Commissioners chairman George F. Halcovage Jr. said he would arrange a meeting with the man who inspected the courthouse for mold and radon, and is involved in remediating the problem.That meeting, with row officers and managers in the courthouse, will be held Friday.Casey brought two employees, Stacie Stoppie and Debra Holley, who expressed their concerns to commissioners.Holley referred to the results of the 2009 inspection by Keith Roe, president of Air Care & Restoration, Bethlehem. The company tested the courthouse in 2009 and again this year for radon and mold.She is concerned about the possibility of black mold, and had a list of symptoms of exposure. People in the office signed their names to the symptoms they have."We have cancers in our office, we have respiratory illnesses. I've been coughing for five years. I've had pneumonia, I've had bronchitis. Everybody in the office has had the same thing," she said."If you read these symptoms, we all have them," Holley said.Stoppie said that around 2008 there was debris in the desk areas from the overhead vents."It was brought to the attention of maintenance, I think they tried cleaning out a vent. It was still happening, and (former Clerk of Courts Stephen M. Lukach) request something be done," she said.She said testing was done, but they were never given the results.Casey wants to know the results of recent testing in her office and the district attorney's office.She also wants to know if any of the areas "red flagged" by Roe for immediate action after a 2009 air quality inspection have ever been addressed."On (Roe's) exit he said we did not have a 'sick building,' " Halcovage said."Nothing was ever done, and you're relying on a man who said in 2009 it needed immediate action, and now he's saying it's a healthy building. That does not make sense," Casey said.County administrator Mark Scarbinsky on April 7 said remediation work had been done after the 2009 report.Casey referred to several emails she sent over the past few weeks to the commissioners and others seeking information."I still have not received a response," she said.Halcovage told her there would be a meeting as soon as possible with Roe.Casey also said that two Fridays ago, in the evening, men wearing respirators were seen in the district attorney's office working on an air vent."We want to know what they were doing, were they remediating, did they find anything," Casey said.Chief County Detective Dolly Malec said she was working in the office at the time, had not been told of the work beforehand and was concerned that she may have been exposed to mold spores or other noxious materials.After the meeting, Scarbinsky said the men were cleaning the vent after Roe found mold during a recent inspection. The vent was sealed, and the door to that office closed during the work, he said.He said no mold was found in the Clerk of Courts office.Casey said a maintenance worker told her he had seen the tests and they indicated mold in the building.Both she and Malec called for an independent contractor to inspect the building.District Attorney Christine A. Holman and Malec also attended to voice their concerns.Malec, whose comments were punctuated by coughs, said that in the past three months she's developed a black rash on her legs, eye irritation, fatigue, pinching sensations and respiratory problems.The symptoms clear up on weekends, only to resume when she returns to the courthouse on Monday mornings, she said.Roe's company inspected the courthouse recently, and determined the building to be "healthy," Halcovage said.Casey proposed a safe building committee that would meet weekly to discuss the issue."We don't have confidence these issues are getting addressed," she said. "They've not been addressed since 2009."