Colorado Springs Downtown Transit Center bathrooms closed to test for possible meth contamination
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The controversy over restrooms at the city bus depot continued Monday with Mountain Metro Transit closing them with plans to conduct tests for possible methamphetamine contamination.
Friday, bus driver Margie Sullivant told KRDO NewsChannel 13 that a security guard at the Downtown Transit Center required hospital treatment Thursday after they were possibly exposed to meth. MMT spokesperson Elaine Sheridan said that the restrooms were closed as a precaution after the guard became ill after leaving a restroom, but she couldn't confirm whether meth exposure was a factor.
"I don't know how long they'll be closed," she said. "We have to find and hire a company to do the testing, and I still do not know how long it takes the get the testing results back. And depending on what those test results show could me mean we may have to do nothing, and they're fine -- or to the point where we may have to do some sort of mitigation."
In a release Friday -- two days after a KRDO NewsChannel 13 report highlighting continued bus drive concerns about recurring problems with the center's restrooms -- MMT announced that starting Sunday, the restrooms would be open only to MMT drivers, staff, and passengers.
The staff said that it started Monday morning by keeping the restrooms locked and unlocking them only for authorized users, but by late morning the doors remain locked -- frustrating passengers and drivers.
At around noon, staff said that it was notified to place stickers on the doors that read: Attention! This bathroom will be closed.
The restrooms will remain closed indefinitely, Sheridan said, pending test results about meth contamination levels.
A security guard at nearby City Hall said that several bus drivers came there Monday asking to use the restrooms, which they were allowed to do.
Bus driver Kelly Muirheid believes that she was exposed to meth or some other drug while using the restroom several weeks ago.
"When I went in, there was someone in one of the stalls with her clothes and other possessions on the floor," she explained. "I started smelling a burned corn smell, and when I came out of the restroom my tongue automatically started going numb, and I reported it to the supervisor and the security guards, and they went to try and find the person who was in the restroom. but she was gone."
Muirheid said that she worries about future exposure, and about losing her job if she fails a drug test because of exposure.
MMT said the bathrooms will remain closed until they can thoroughly test the facilities and - if needed - MMT said it'll conduct "any necessary mitigation."
