Slow mold-fix concerns tenants

Last week, some residents in the East Village said they welcome Western Illinois Universitys recent efforts to fight mold problems in their apartments but remained concerned that not enough is being done.

The issue of mold in the student-family housing complex publicly surfaced Oct. 7 when several tenants complained about the conditions during a Student Government Association (SGA) meeting.

Western officials have since committed additional staff to mold remediation. Nevertheless, some close to the situation said issues escalated due to slow initial response.

It accelerated fast and (Facilities Management) ramped up the number of people when they learned it had accelerated, said John Biernbaum, associate vice president for student services at Western.

Since the issue was made public 28 days ago, university officials said maintenance and cleaning staff logged more than 19,000 hours in overtime at the complex.

Some residents believe something should have been done about the mold prior to the SGA meeting.

You know its a lot of chaos going on now, said Shavonya Williams, an East Village resident who attended the meeting. I feel like thats the only reason they did something about it.

In days following the meeting, 27 (of 36) mold-infected apartments were disinfected and assessed for potential hazard. Facilities Management, University Housing and Dining Services (UHDS) and Physical Plant employees managed a routine to contain the problem in each affected apartment.

Our guys are spread all through them, said Scott Coker, Westerns Director of Facilities Management. If an insulator is in there working on insulation, then we cant be painting yet. Its a very sequential operation.

While staff evaluated the extent of the problem in each apartment and rated them based on severity, some, like Williams, questioned those assessments. She said employees deemed bleach sufficient to clean affected areas in her apartment.

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Slow mold-fix concerns tenants