KINGMAN – Bed bugs, only a handful, have been discovered at the Mohave County Administration building in downtown Kingman. The problem in the Office of the School Superintendent on the third floor came to light on Sunday, December 16.
“We had a report that someone had seen bed bugs in that office,” Risk Manager Joe Dorner confirmed Friday, February 7.
That was in the last two weeks of the Administration of former Superintendent Mike File. He closed the office and Mohave Pest Control responded for inspection, treatment, cleansing and trap setting before a second incident was detected within days.
“We had a custodian on the 19th that had seen a bug in a trap,” Dorner said.
He said pest control personnel discovered a couple more bugs as mitigation efforts continued and that no bugs were detected during office inspections on January 3, 10 and 17.
Then, another bug one week later.
“On the 24th of January we had a report that there was a bug found in a trap in the office,” Dorner said. He said the multiple week gap presents a mystery for those working on the problem and trying to identify who or what is bringing in the bugs.
“We can’t say what that source is,” Dorner said. “The pest control agency is convinced that it was a reintroduction.”
The county issued a January 30 press release indicating that the “office would be undergoing maintenance activities and relocated to ensure the continuation of public services.” One employee is staffing the Cholla conference room on the first floor of the building and the other few office employees are working remotely.
County officials are concerned that publicity will trigger overreaction and possible panic within the workforce or by the public. It was noted that bed bugs can be annoying but don’t present grave health concerns.
The Environmental Protection Agency website said bed bugs are tiny, blood feeding creatures. The EPA said adult bed bugs are about the size of an apple seed and can cause itching and irritation from biting.
Monitoring and inspection efforts continue and there’s no indication when the office will be considered safe for occupancy and operation.
“We don’t exactly know when that is. What we’re doing is we’re going out first of all to make sure that we don’t have any more concerns still in that office,” Dorner said. “We have several different steps we are taking, which includes inspections and treatments through our pest control.”
Superintendent John Warren has been unavailable for comment. County Manager Sam Elters deferred comment to Dorner. Mohave Pest Control cited client confidentiality in declining to answer questions.
Dave Hawkins
