STEUBENVILLE — A spokesperson for Wingate by Wyndham hotel on University Boulevard said Wednesday management is working to correct the mold and structural issues that could lead to its closure if left unchecked

“The only thing I can say is we are moving forward to have the issues addressed and taken care of,” the spokesperson said.

On Tuesday, Health District Commissioner Andrew Henry said the state fire marshal, empowered by Ohio Revised Code to ensure hotels meet health and safety standards, had ordered Wingate’s management to address the concerns after a July 8 tour of the facility with city building inspectors and health department personnel.

After the on-site inspection the fire marshal ordered Wingate’s management to commission “a third-party mold assessment, somebody not attached to Wingate in any fashion” to assess conditions in the hotel, which Henry said has only been booking about half its rooms.

Henry said the mold assessment was completed last week, and the results presented to the fire marshal, along with “a couple of options to remediate the mold.” He’s giving Wingate until the end of the week to submit its corrective plan of action, Henry said.

“The hotel was required to undergo a mold assessment and structural assessment as a result of the inspection,” Henry said in a release issued Tuesday. “The mold assessment has been completed and awaiting remediation plans. Due to the mold assessment, the breakfast area will remain closed until mold remediation is complete in order to protect public health.”

The structural assessment is pending, he said.

During its monthly meeting this week, the health board had unanimously approved a resolution declaring the Wingate had “failed to meet acceptable sanitary conditions as defined by the Ohio Revised Code” and requested “enforcement action from the state fire marshal up to and including closure due to the conditions at the property.”

Henry said the problems came to the board’s attention through “a number of complaints” lodged by guests, “mainly (about) mold, that was the biggest complaint, and bed bugs. Half the building has mold.” He said in some places the flooring appears to be unsafe. “Several locations have flooring removed and walls down to the studs,” he said.

“When it comes to this, when you have to get the local health department and even city personnel involved, that pretty much tells me that the hotel has let the facility go for quite a while,” Henry said. He added that given the amount of mold they saw in the facility, coupled with the fact that the hotel has only been renting half its rooms, “it tells me that they’ve let that go on. It’s not like it happened in the last year or so — for mold to grow to that magnitude, they let it go for quite a while.”