COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Workers at the Cobb County tag office worry they've been breathing in air that makes them sick.
Whitney Walker and her family came in Wednesday for a tag for a new car. When she heard Cobb's tag office had recently battled issues with mold and rat feces, she wasn't too happy.
"I have a young child that was recently crawling around on the floor in there and it makes me nervous that he might have rat pee on his hands or breathing problems because of the mold," Walker said.
Workers alerted Channel 2's Ross Cavitt to the issue: Mold found behind a wall in the computer room and rat feces found in the ceiling.
Cavitt obtained an audio recording of Tax Commissioner Carla Jackson briefing workers recently about the results of an air quality study.
"Last Thursday we got the preliminary results of the air quality tests and… um… we do have some issues," Jackson said in the recording.
County officials said since that briefing, the problems have been addressed, the wall with the mold has been removed and crews have removed the droppings. An updated air quality reading has come up OK.
Northwest Exterminating's Adam Vannest said it is important to clean and sanitize the area because the longer that waste exists, the more dangerous it can become.
"The longer it sits there, depending upon time and air movement, different diseases that are left there in the waste can get airborne over time," Vannest said.
County officials said they have had environmental experts clean the building, and then retested the building.
WSBTV
