Effective today, December 19th, Reidsville City officials have closed the lower level of the Parks & Recreation building which houses the Senior Center and Fitness Center.

No interruption in the majority of senior citizen services is anticipated, said Reidsville City Manager Michael Pearce, although some of those services will be relocated in the interim. Apparently it all has to do with mold and mildew.

Recently, the City had requested a consultative visit from OSHA to review its buildings for any maintenance and occupational safety issues. During that visit on December 6, OSHA suggested the Parks & Recreation basement level be checked for mold and mildew.

Preliminary findings from that review show that there is mold on that level of the building, but further testing will be done. The main level of the building, which houses some administrative staff and the gymnasium, tested negatively for any mold or mildew.

Senior Center staff will be relocated from their Washington Avenue location to offices in the Teen Center on Sprinkle Street while recreation staff will be housed on the main level of the Parks & Rec building. The nutrition site has moved to Reidsville Pentecostal Holiness Church at 413 Dameron Road until further notice. Physical activities will be conducted in the gymnasium area.

Tom Wiggins, Assistant City Manager over Parks & Recreation said that following further testing, the next step will be to determine what is at the root of the mold and mildew problem and what will need to be done to correct the situation.

City officials are looking into other temporary options for the Senior Center participants until the mold problem can be remedied.