At a public forum Oct. 8, 2025, residents of Sunrise Valley told the Washington City Council that persistent, acrid odors they believe come from the Purgatory landfill have left neighbors with respiratory symptoms and disrupted daily life, and they delivered air-monitoring graphs they said show repeated spikes into hazardous ranges.

The residents asked what concrete steps the city will take to find and fix the source. “Our air quality in Sunrise Valley regularly spike into hazardous ranges, especially at night when the odors are strongest,” resident Kimberly Monson told the council, handing members printed graphs she said were uploaded directly from a third‑party database.

The forum drew several residents who described a change after a June fire at the Purgatory landfill and at least one hospitalization. Speakers said odors can appear at night and sometimes disappear on days when inspections are announced. Residents asked the council to press state regulators and the landfill operator to identify and remediate the cause.

Tim Farmer said the odor can make it impossible to be outside and that the problem began after the landfill fire: “It was so, the odor was so bad outside. We couldn't, we couldn't do it.” Elijah Hillstrom and others raised a water-quality worry: runoff from the landfill flows downhill toward a nearby river and, after rains, can carry material from the site into local waterways.

Mary Beth Powell described health effects in her household, including a persistent cough she said she had not had before the summer and headaches that wake her in the morning. Several parents reported children unable to play outside as they did before the summer. Kyle and Rhema Pfeiffer said the smell had reversed health improvements their family had experienced after moving to the area.

Council members and staff said they are pursuing multiple lines of work but did not announce a new regulatory action at the meeting. The mayor said city staff and the fire department have visited the site, and the city has written to the state agency: “We will continue to work with the state agency. Our goal is to help find the source and mitigate that,” the mayor said, referencing coordination with Jalen at the division of waste management.

Council members asked staff to keep the item high on their list. Councilman Ivey said the council should “put this at the top of our list” to understand the problem and get mitigation implemented. No ordinance, resolution or other formal regulatory action was adopted at the forum; the public forum was closed by motion after remarks concluded.

The council and staff outlined next steps the meeting record shows: continued coordination with the Utah division of waste management, continued site visits by fire and city staff, and ongoing information-sharing with affected residents. Residents urged visible, recurring testing and asked the council to press the landfill operator to maintain emissions controls on non‑inspection days.

The council did not vote on new regulatory authority or a formal enforcement action during the forum. The council did approve routine meeting procedures: the agenda for the public forum was approved (motion by Councilman Henderson; second by Councilman Coates; outcome: approved) and the public forum was later closed by motion (mover: Councilor Nivey; seconder: Councilwoman Casperson; outcome: approved).

Residents asked the city to report back with specific steps taken and results of any tests; staff indicated they would continue pressing the state division of waste management and using available staff and fire‑department resources to seek the source and possible remedies.