Odd smells and reported illnesses among staff have forced Belle Fourche municipal offices from city hall.

What is making the smell and whether the air is making people sick is not known. Reports about samples sent to a national laboratory are expected later this week.

Meanwhile, city workers - some wearing filtered air masks and protective hazardous-material suits - have removed equipment and files from the 1930s city hall building. City offices, after a couple of interim moves, have settled in a building that had housed alternative high school classes for the Belle Fourche School District.

Belle Fourche City Council members heard updates Monday at a special session in Bowman Hall at Herrmann Park.

Finance office employees had complained for several weeks of an odd smell in the city offices. Calls to the state health department last week brought suggestions of how to check for potential health hazards in the building.

City building maintenance chief Dennis Hothem said American Engineering of Rapid City handled testing in the city offices. Hothem said the process basically involved exposing materials in petri dishes that would react to various molds or bacteria in the building.

He said testing results are expected by Friday. The report will be on next Monday evening's regular city council agenda, Mayor Dave Schneider said.

Hothem also was among workers donning hazardous-materials protective suits and air masks to move computers from the office to new quarters. City offices first moved to the municipal engineering office and then to the alternative high school across the street from city hall.

The school district is moving out of the leased offices, owned by West River Foundation. The nonprofit business group has offered the city use of the building for the cost of utilities.

Technically, the Belle Fourche School District still has the building leased until Aug. 1. Superintendent Bill O'Dea said the district is just asking for city help in moving materials that had been stored in the building during its move to quarters along U.S. Highway 85 near the AmericInn.

"It's not a perfect situation, but it is pretty good," Pummel said.

The mayor noted that the temporary quarters are working well so far.

Finance Officer Gloria Landphere said the city's computers are up and running. She said telephone, Internet and e-mail service should be restored by midweek.

Even before the city hall odor problems, Belle Fourche had been working on a new municipal government building.

The temporary quarters could be occupied until the new city hall is built, or city offices could be moved back into the old city hall, depending on test results.

City Councilman David Pummel said the temporary office takes away a lot of pressure for making quick decisions.

"We're fine where we are right now," he said.

The city council took no action at the special meeting.