MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL

MEMPHIS, August 4, 2026 - Repairs began on August 4 to two failed air conditioning units at the Orange Mound Community Center, and the city agreed the same morning to send someone to determine whether a substance reported in a classroom near the exercise area is mold.

The update came before the Public Works, Solid Waste and General Services Committee, on an item requested by Chairwoman Jana Swearengen-Washington.

She told the committee she had received calls from constituents about the center, and listed what they raised: the air conditioning, pressure washing, an ice maker and a refrigerator, and several other things. She said the center is used during all the operational hours it is open, and asked the departments to do a walkthrough and address the concerns.

What the walkthrough found

The general services team said it walked the facility the previous week, on July 30, and found problems with two HVAC units. Those units serve the classroom beneath the bleachers, the front desk area and the front classroom.

A contractor was on site starting repairs on the day of the meeting. Temporary cooling had been placed in the affected areas the week before.

Staff also found that ceiling tiles had been replaced roughly two weeks earlier, which they identified as an issue in its own right. Pressure washing was completed the previous week.

The parks director addressed the kitchen equipment. The walk-in refrigerator on the senior center side was part of the building''s original construction. It is operable, but the department is looking at a longer-term replacement, primarily because of parts availability, and is considering a more modern option. The ice maker would be replaced.

The deputy director for general services added that leaks had come down into an adjacent area from units in the mechanical space, that the water had been redirected to a proper drain in the short term, and that the units causing the leaks would be addressed after the current repairs.

The parking lot and the mold

Chairwoman Swearengen-Washington asked whether anyone had looked at the parking lot, which she said has a lot of potholes.

Staff said no, ma''am, but that a grounds crew would be sent to look at it.

She asked whether the city still has a mobile camera on the lot. Staff said the facility has fixed cameras and that they believed a mobile unit is still there, and would follow up.

Then she asked the question that produced the shortest answer of the exchange. She asked whether anyone had checked for mold, because someone had reported a substance in a classroom not far from the exercise area.

Staff said they would check for it, verify what the substance is, and remediate it accordingly.

The record does not show that anyone had checked before the meeting.

The broader request

Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton used the moment to ask for something larger. She asked the chairman whether the committee could get a report on the maintenance status of all the city''s community centers, when the last such reporting was done, and what the current condition of each is, so the council can stay ahead of problems rather than responding to them one center at a time.

Staff agreed, and said the report would come from the facility condition assessment the department has completed.

She pressed the point on why. She said communities use the centers faithfully, that children and seniors depend on the programming, and that when the word mold comes up, that is serious and a public safety concern for people''s health.

What happens next

Staff committed to check and identify the substance in the classroom and remediate it, to send a grounds crew to assess the parking lot, to follow up on the mobile camera, and to address the units causing the leaks after the current HVAC repairs are complete. The department agreed to bring the committee a report drawn from its facility condition assessment covering all city community centers. No date was set for any of it.

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