Prosecutor’s office, courts closed after ‘bad mold’ found in Monroe County justice building

Signs posted on the entrance to the Monroe County justice building at 7th Street and College Avenue in downtown Bloomington say that no initial hearings and no traffic court will be held today (Friday, Aug. 22). That’s an indication that the county prosecutor’s office is closed.

Administrator for the county commissioners, Angie Purdie, confirmed in a text message to The B Square that Friday’s closure is related to the preliminary analysis of testing for mold based on 76 samples that were taken on Wednesday. She said the county government had received oral communication that two instances of “the bad mold” had been found in an office different from one where it had been previously found and treated.

Based on a briefing from VET Environmental Engineering given on Thursday, the “bad mold” is likely Stachybotrys, which is a black mold known for producing toxins and linked to respiratory problems.

Purdie continued, writing, “The recommendation was for that person to stay out of that office and the adjacent offices.” She added, “The area between that office and the secretarial pool had no evidence of the bad mold.”

The information about the outcome of the testing was shared with the prosecutor’s office, Purdie indicated. She wrote, “I received a call later from the prosecutor stating they were going to close the prosecutor’s office and the criminal courts today.” According to Purdie, the civil courts and the clerk’s office are supposed to be open. Responding to a text message from The B Square, county clerk Nicole Browne indicated the clerk’s office is open today.

[Added at 9:45 a.m. on Aug. 22, 2025: Deputy prosecutor Jeff Kehr confirmed the office closure by email. “We were notified late yesterday afternoon of another positive test for Stachybotrys in a different area (north end) of our office. Out of concern for our employees’ health, we closed the office today. We are hopeful that the chemical fogging scheduled for tonight and this weekend will alleviate any health hazard going forward.”]

About the results from the extensive testing that was done on Wednesday, Purdie indicated that VET Environmental Engineering is still working through the data, so there is no official finding yet. Overall, Purdie indicated that she believes that the information coming from the testing is “good” except for the one area that prompted the closure of the prosecutor’s office.

On Wednesday, after treating specific areas, replacing ceiling tiles, and scrubbing the air with HEPA filters, VET Environmental Engineering took a total of 76 air samples in the building. The 76 samples covered all five floors, which includes the jail on the top two stories of the building.

Those samples were driven to a laboratory in Indianapolis, which were to be analyzed starting Thursday on a three-hour turnaround time, according to Sara Hamidovic, founder of VET Environmental Engineering, who gave a briefing about the mold clean up work on Thursday to at least 70 county government employees who packed into Courtroom 313 to hear the presentation.

The mold clean up work started on Aug. 6 after a complaint was filed with IOSHA.

On Tuesday, the clean up work, which involved the replacement of several ceiling tiles, became so disruptive to the employees in the building that they were sent home late morning that day.