Special Board of Aldermen 03-15-2021 Page 7
President Wilshire
OK, anyone have any questions for Director Cummings? Alderman Clemons?
Alderman Clemons
OK, thank you, Madam President. That Mohawk Tannery Site has been unfortunately linked to my family
for years. And | suspect that it has to do with some of the negative health effects that a lot of my family has
had over the years just by the fact that a lot of them grew up there, lived in that neighborhood in either little
Florida or Fairmount Heights. Just being around that, | think, there’s a lot of people in that neighborhood
that have issues with their health; cancer, different things like that. So | definitely want to see the site
cleaned up. | am hesitant, however, to use — it’s one of those things where you want to have the site
cleaned up but you also regret the fact that the people that made the mess aren't the ones paying,
especially where it hits a lot of people right at home.
The other thing that | question is whether or not it would make sense to actually build more homes in that
area given the fact that there is such a significant, in my opinion, there are significant health risks to just
living there. And | don’t know that we could guarantee and these are the things that | would want to see, is
what kind of guarantees are in place that stuff, whatever they bury there, is going to remain buried and
what is the action plan if in the future it starts to leak or something like that. What are the measures 100
years from now when it starts to leak and then what is built around there? Do people have to move in order
for us to be able to go into a site like that and prevent it from leaking in the future? These are answers that
| don’t think that we can truly answer and unfortunately until we can get some solid answers on stuff like
that, | would certainly not be in favor of putting more houses in an area like that. To me, | am all for
cleaning it up but we have to be responsible in the way that we do it and we have to make sure that we
have a plan for the future and | mean years and years and years down the road that there is money set
aside, you know, that there’s a clear defined plan of what to do if something was to go wrong with the site
after it has been capped. So | would need to see those types of details in order to support anything really
to that site.
Director Cummings
Thank you for that feedback. | think that those are really good points.
Mayor Donchess
And Alderman Clemons, that’s one thing that we have been talking with the EPA about and DES from the
State. Who is going to monitor this? Who is responsible if there is the type of situation you described, of
some leakage. It’s downhill to the river and uphill to the neighborhood so if there is leakage it is very likely
it would be not towards the neighborhood but towards the river. They say that this is all pretty dormant and
maybe they are right but still there needs to be a monitoring and plan. We’ve made it clear that the City
does not wish to take over that responsibility and that it needs to be either DES or the EPA.
President Wilshire
Is there something they can do when they cap these lagoons like they do when the cap asbestos? | mean
they have monitoring wells and stuff like that. Is there something they can do there with that; the same kind
of process?
Director Cummings
That’s my understanding is there would be active monitoring occurring and annual inspections and my
understanding is an active management plan. My understanding is part of the EPA and DES regulations
will make that explicitly clear; the maintenance of it and the ongoing assurance that we are getting what is
