Air conditioning package units running strong, suddenly konk out at the Mississippi Department of Revenue on Springridge Road. Five a/c units are causing problems, affecting about 80 percent of the staff.
"It feels like the heat radiates from the roof around lunchtime," says Projects Director Jennifer Wentworth. "You should be able to be comfortable sitting at your desk."
The Department of Revenue has purchased fans, but it's not much relief.
"The high temperature we have had in this area (of the building) is 87 degrees", says Kathy Waterbury, Director of Communications. We talked to Waterbury at the Department of Revenue in the morning Thursday, when temperatures inside were still reasonably comfortable. She says once an a/c unit freezes up, it takes about an hour to thaw out.
"The older units are working above what they're capable of handling. Same problem in the wintertime with the heat," she says. "A lot of people have not felt well because of the heat."
During the last legislative session, Senator David Blount introduced a bill to move the Department of Revenue from their current location to a spot in the Landmark building at Lamar and Capital Streets downtown. But the House shot it down.
Blount will introduce the legislation again next year.
"The state needs a long term, permanent solution for where the Department of Revenue will be, where those folks can work, in a comfortable environment," he says.
The building's landlord, Bobby DeViney, has come in every day to check on the air conditioning situation. He replaced three units recently, but apparently, the heat continues to rise.
Employees are making the best of it.
"We're in a tin shed across from a dump," Waterbury says.
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