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Mayor: 50,000 gallons of leachate contained on Wind Waste property; city to accept spill and seek $5,500 match for signage
Summary
Mayor reported a leachate release from Wind Waste Innovations was contained on company property, said there was no risk to Fostoria's water supply, and asked council to approve an emergency grant match of $5,500 for new signage for parks and the airport.
Mayor reported a leachate release at Wind Waste Innovations and said the spill was contained on company property and posed no risk to the city’s water supply. The mayor told council the company asked the city to take the spilled water, and after inspecting the site city staff agreed to accept it.
The mayor said, "There were 50,000 gallons of leachate that leaked into 3,000,000 gallons of storm stormwater. If you do the math, this amounts to a diluted, 1.67% of leachate." He described the spilled mixture as primarily stormwater and asked that the first piece of new business — a grant application — be passed as an emergency so the city could commit $5,500 in matching funds for new signage at parks and the airport.
Why it matters: leachate releases can create public concern about groundwater and drinking-water contamination. Council action to treat the matter as an emergency would allow the city to access grant money and proceed quickly with signage that, according to the mayor, is tied to a small local match.
Council also heard staff-level details about the city’s MS4 (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System) responsibilities. The director of finance said the city must submit plans for the MS4 permit by June and that the project-management position expected to complete the work has not been filled. The director said the city will use an independent contractor and reappropriate budgeted salary dollars to contractual services to meet the deadline: "That position is not filled. The challenge is those plans need to be submitted by June ... we don't have really time to wait till we fill that project management position. So ... we're going to actually use [an] independent contractor to do that work."
No additional testing results, laboratory data, or outside-agency reports were presented in the meeting. The mayor said the initial news coverage correctly indicated the spill was contained on Wind Waste property and reiterated there was no known risk to the municipal water supply.
The council did not discuss any enforcement actions, fines, or corrective-work schedules during the report. The mayor said he would bring the grant item forward under new business and requested the three-reading rule be suspended for that item so the city could commit the matching funds promptly.
