Libraries keep closing for meth

Should they solve the problem?

BY OLIVIA PRENTZEL AND JENNIFER BROWN THE COLORADO SUN

Librarians will tell you the role of public libraries hasn’t changed — they’ve always been a community space open to all, with a mission to educate and serve.

What changes is the world outside, and whatever is going on in society, will go on in the library. e rise in homelessness, untreated mental illness and drug use have forced libraries to adapt, from extensive sta training in how to de-escalate outbursts to hiring social workers and security guards. is winter, though, libraries across suburban Denver were hit with a new challenge. One by one, they tested for methamphetamine residue in their bathrooms and air vents, fearful that sta and the public were in danger from the toxic contamination left behind by patrons smoking drugs in the bathrooms.

In an extraordinary domino e ect, four libraries, some of the last public spaces welcome to everyone, closed.

Some libraries hoped the public would see the closures as a wake-up call, opening eyes to what they deal with every day, according to emails of library directors obtained by e Sun through public records laws. Other libraries emailed to nd out whether the rst libraries to close had overreacted or if they should test, too. All were concerned upon hearing the test results about the health of their employees.

Boulder Public Library tested in December, after the library director worried about the health of his two-person cleaning team repeatedly sent into the bathroom after reports of putrid smoke. Englewood Public Library, also plagued by meth clouds, discovered in mid-January that its bathrooms were contaminated. Littleton, “in the interest of being proactive,” was next, also nding levels of meth residue exceeding the state health department’s legal limit. Arvada followed last week.

Pikes Peak Public Library District said Jan. 19 it would remain open as samples are taken from all 15 locations in Colorado Springs as a “proactive action” though there was no known meth exposure. It later scaled back, deciding to test only the bathrooms at three of the most popular branches. e meth closures in Colorado made national news, from People magazine to e New York Times. Public reaction vacillated between accusing the libraries of causing hysteria to wondering how far society has sunk.

Of the four libraries that closed, only Boulder has reopened, though the bathrooms are sealed o by a temporary wall and plastic until they are cleaned by a professional meth lab remediation company. e Boulder library was closed for three weeks. Englewood has been shut down for nearly a month, and Littleton for two and a half weeks. Arvada closed more than a week ago.

Boulder library director David Farnan doesn’t regret closing the doors, even though he said he learned from local and state health o cials within a few days of the closure that no one’s health was ever at risk. After 14 incidences of drug use in about three weeks, he’d already had a policy in place to shut down the bathrooms and not let anyone — even the cleaning crew — enter if there were fumes in the air.

But just because no one’s health was at risk, that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable, he said.

“We have to do everything we can to prevent this from ever happening again,” Farnan said. “We can’t have a public library and have meth use going on in the bathroom. at’s just a nobrainer.”

So the library will again nd a way to adapt. e plan is to keep the restrooms closed to the public, except for children accompanied by their parents and people who have a medical condition. It’s the best way Farnan sees to preserve the library’s mission to serve all, whether they are parents and kids coming to story time, seniors using the internet or people who sleep outside.

“It’s one of the few places where anyone can go, everyone is treated with decency and you don’t have to buy anything,” he said. “ at’s rare. e value of having a public place is extraordinary.”

Colorado’s standard for meth

EARN UP TO $100,000 ANNUALLY

If you don’t have a K-Lawn Dealer in your area, we are looking to add a few quality dealers to our 10-state network. Key benefits include:

• Earn up to $100,000 annually, or $50,000 over just the summer

• Lowest industry Franchise cost

• Manage your own lawn fertilization, weed and insect control business

• Part-time or full-time, you decide and manage your own schedule

• Income stability for your family

contamination isn’t based on public settings

Here is how many reports of patrons a ected by meth contamination the libraries received:

Zero.

Two Boulder library employees reported feeling “dizzy” after walking into a smoke- lled room in late November and were checked out by paramedics, but both had normal vital signs and no evident symptoms of narcotics exposure.

And for public health experts who have studied meth exposure, that doesn’t come as a surprise.

“I think the health risks when we nd that amount — by design — are negligible,” said Mike Van Dyke, whose research on meth exposure helped establish the state’s decontamination procedures and sampling requirements.

In Colorado, a space is considered contaminated if meth residue is detected at levels above 0.5 micrograms per 15.5 square inches. e threshold is based on a child being exposed for a long period inside a home.

“It was really established for the worst-case exposure, which would be a toddler living 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in a contaminated home crawling over carpets, putting their hands in their mouth, doing all of those things,” said Van Dyke, now a professor at Colorado School of Public Health.

But public restrooms are a far di erent setting than one’s living room.

Nonporous tiled oors and countertops make it easy to wipe o meth residue, which is very water soluble. People don’t spend much time in a public restroom and typically try to avoid touching surfaces to limit the spread of germs.

“So let’s say you touch a surface, you wash your hands before you leave. You’ve generally washed the vast majority of meth o of yourself even if you were exposed,” he said.

“ ere’s really low opportunity for exposure.”

Even so, libraries are being held to an “inappropriate” standard not designed to measure meth exposure in public settings.

“ e only standard they have is one that’s inappropriate, and from a risk- management perspective, their only real recourse is to clean it up to that one standard that exists,” Van Dyke said. resholds requiring a space to decontaminate detected meth residue vary per state, with some states having much higher limits than Colorado. In Wyoming, for example, the threshold requiring decontamination is set at 1.5 micrograms, according to a 2019 review by e International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

At the libraries in Boulder, Littleton and Englewood, meth residue that exceeded the state’s threshold was detected in the exhaust ducts in the bathrooms and on bathroom surfaces. Cleanup will cost tens of thousands. Englewood received an estimate of $38,000 to $45,000 for state contractors to decontaminate the library, according to an email sent to its sta . Boulder’s bill is tallying $105,000 so far, with an additional $68,000 in cleaning costs expected.

But few, if any, have standards set for public spaces.

Colorado’s threshold is used for all spaces where meth is detected, but it was designed around longer exposure times, speci cally where someone is exposed to that level of meth for 24 hours, then reduced by 25 as a safeguard for toddlers, said Dr. Karin Pacheco, an allergist and occupational medicine expert at National Jewish Health.

“And that’s the case for most of these government levels — there is a protection factor built in to account for the more vulnerable people who may be exposed,” Pacheco said. “We need to look at where it’s being used and make sure that that usage is reduced, but the actual exposure itself, it’s unlikely to be harmful.” and necessity to approve the request.

Symptoms after being exposed to meth for a short period of time can include irritability, jitteriness and a fast heart rate. For kids, symptoms will likely be more severe.

Tests are limited in what they reveal — meth contamination could be present for long periods of time before it’s ever detected. Like in air ducts, for example.

Once the project is in operation, the cost of the investment is passed on to consumers through an increase in base utility rates. PUC also has the power to set a return on investment rate, which determines the pro t that utility companies get from these investments. at ROI rate can contribute to higher prices as well.

Base rates have been increasing for years. Higher base rates make periods of extreme price pressure — usually resulting from high fuel costs or unusually cold weather conditions — even worse. e PUC can’t control those factors, but they can drive base rates down in the long run by limiting unnecessary investments by utility companies, Gilman said.

“What are we doing to really try to ensure that rate-payers are protected in the long run and (ensure) that those utility investments that end up being repaid by rate-payers are really the best use of that money, and the best option available?” she said.

Blank said that managing base rates will be part of the discussion on a ordability moving forward. Later at the meeting, the commission also approved updates to its policy for service disconnection reporting, which now will include data on areas with the highest proportions of disconnections in order to identify geographic disparities in access to utility services.

Additionally, they made plans to meet with assistance program coordinators and utility companies to improve the e ectiveness and accessibility of low-income quali ed programs.

Access to sources of assistance like the Percentage of Income Payment Program, which limits utility costs for low income families to up to 6% of their monthly income, must be improved, according to Gilman. e PUC has taken some steps already to make its process open and easy to understand, she said, but there’s still much room for growth when it comes to working in a mode that engages the public on addressing longterm a ordability moving forward.

“ is is a massive issue, to take this agency and all of the sudden try to humanize, try to improve accessibility, try to improve language access, try to improve these opportunities,” Gilman said. “By no means do we have it all gured out.” is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.