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Barnesville resident concerned about air quality

T-L Photo/LENNY WITTENBROOK Barnesville resident Jill Hunkler addresses Village Council last week concerning what she perceived as a lack of response by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to recent reports by her of “strong hydrocarbon odors” in the village.

BARNESVILLE — A resident asked Village Council to pay for air quality monitoring after voicing concerns that state and local regulatory agencies are failing to do their part to protect the public from the hazards of natural gas and oil fracking in the area.

Jill Hunkler addressed council during a regular meeting held Sept. 16, saying that after her family and others smelled “strong hydrocarbon odors” on Sept. 4 and 9, she spoke with Trevor Irwin of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. She said he told her they were smelling methyl mercaptan resulting from a problem with a safety valve on a nearby pipeline.

Methyl mercaptan is the compound commonly added to odorless natural gas to give it its distinctive rotten egg smell as a safety precaution.

Hunkler said Irwin told her they were in no danger from the chemical and that she should contact her local fire chief when she requested that the air in the area be tested for contaminants. Hunkler further said that Dave Ivan, Belmont County Emergency Management Agency director, contradicted Irwin’s claim, telling her that local authorities do not have the ability perform those tests.

Hunkler presented council with a proposal and requested that the village pay $5,626 for The Environmental Health Project of Southwest Pennsylvania to perform a month of air monitoring in the village.

“I think we ought to keep the county involved in this. I mean if we’ve got an EMA director, I would like to think that the county would have something set up and not just us,” Councilman Scott Gallagher said before confirming with Fire Chief Tim Hall that Barnesville Fire Department does not have the equipment needed to conduct the air monitoring.

Hall also said that no medical issues were reported as a result of the incident and that the odor investigation was the extent of the department’s response. Hall said department members were out on the dates in question in the vicinity of The Flower Gardens on Gardner Street where they did notice the reported odor, but said that it dissipated quickly.

“We did what we could do,” he said.

Mayor Dale Bunting expressed dismay that news of the problem was spread widely through social media and stressed the importance of going through the proper channels to report and deal with potentially hazardous situations.

“It’s the EPA’s problem. I don’t want you getting on Facebook and telling people we have an issue when we ain’t even sure we’ve got an issue. We have a Belmont County Emergency Management unit. If there’s a hazard, why wouldn’t they get in touch with us? If there’s an issue with the public, that’s our job, the safety of the community, and we need to know this stuff, but we don’t need to catch it from there,” Bunting said, referring to a printed copy of a Facebook page where Hunkler had posted about the situation.

Councilman Jamie Betts responded to Hunkler’s proposal.

“I don’t see that we need to do this just yet, but I’m not completely throwing it off,” he said and proposed that a Safety Committee meeting be held to discuss the matter. He said he would ask Ivan to attend.

Also at the meeting on Sept. 16, Village Administrator Roger Deal said that he and Park Director Rick Wells were satisfied that Astro Pools had successfully identified and fixed the cause of water loss from the pool at Memorial Park. It had been a problem since the pool was refurbished last year.

Deal said there was one tile that still needed to be repaired and recommended that council approve the final payment of $28,005.52. He explained that Astro Pools had extended the overall warranty until May 31, 2021, and that certain components of the pool had their own individual warranties that would apply separately.

Council unanimously voted to approve the final payment to Astro Pools.

Council also passed an ordinance making the intersection of Franklin and Vine streets as well as the intersection of Hunts Avenue and Gardner Street four-way stops.

Hall informed council that the fire and EMS departments as well as the police department were in the early planning stages for a “Public Safety Day” set for Oct. 19. He said more details need to be worked out, but he believed the event would be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Council approved Police Chief Rocky Sirianni’s request to send three officers to Advanced Search and Seizure training at the Akron Police Department Academy on Nov. 21-22 at a cost of $279 per officer plus meals and lodging.

Council also approved building permits for Dan Peters to pave a driveway at 301 Kirk Ave.; for Georgia Gallagher to pave a driveway at 740 Bond Ave.; and for Andrew and Melissa Nugent to pave a parking area at 726 Bond Avenue.

Barnesville resident Scott Whitacre was at the meeting to announce the ribbon-cutting and grand opening of The Main Street Barrel House would be held at 5:30 p.m. today at 137 E. Main St. Whitacre said the new restaurant, which is located in the old Eagle’s building will serve appetizers, soups, salads and paninis as well as legal beverages in a bistro-style atmosphere.

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