Mayor Jeffrey Feeney told the Chillicothe City Council on Sept. 8 that the city has ongoing communications with regulators about contamination tied to the Halmet site and that the city "has received a notice of violation from the EPA." He said the city will publish EPA materials and is pressing for a public meeting with regulators.

The issue matters because residents said they fear long-standing industrial contamination may be tied to elevated cancer rates in Ross County and that state and local monitoring may be insufficient. Several members of the public asked the council to pursue broader testing and an epidemiological study of local cancer incidence.

At the meeting, Feeney summarized recent regulator interactions and site-monitoring requirements, saying the Ohio EPA has requested changes to monitoring methodology for the city-managed landfill on Seney Road and that consultants have redrafted monitoring plans for submission. "Once the EPA approves those, it's likely that we'll have an upfront cost, probably new drilling ... to do different type of monitoring than what we're doing now," Feeney said.

Residents described personal or family health impacts they attribute to industrial contamination. "I'm calling city council to do a full epidemiological study of Chillicothe and how these toxic sites have affected the cancer rates in this community," said Jason Salley, who spoke during audience participation. Another resident, Jamie Brown, noted Halmet's recent corporate earnings and urged aggressive monitoring if contamination is confirmed.

Council staff and the mayor said the documents provided at the podium were from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and included a fact sheet and contact information. A staff member told the public that the city "continues to look for a public meeting and have asked for that," and encouraged residents to use the Ohio EPA contact information on the handouts for questions.

No formal city action to commission an epidemiological study or to order additional testing was taken during the meeting. Council members and staff said they will continue to push state regulators for public engagement and will post the Ohio EPA materials online. Mayor Feeney and staff also described the city's 30-year landfill monitoring obligation and said administrative rule changes in recent years required the updated monitoring methodology currently under review.

Residents asserted multiple local contamination concerns, including the former Halmet (sometimes referenced with corporate owners in public remarks), an old city landfill, and historical chemical factory sites. Council members did not adopt any new ordinance or vote to fund a health study at the meeting.

Looking forward, the city will post the Ohio EPA fact sheet online and staff said they will continue to request a public meeting with the Ohio EPA. Citizens who addressed council urged a health study and expanded monitoring; the council accepted the documents and pledged to continue pursuing regulator engagement but did not commit to the study requested by residents.