Staff photo / J.T. Whitehouse Canfield resident Brad Kincade addresses the Canfield Board of Education at a recent board meeting to discuss the Material Sciences Corp. chemical leak from last summer. He requested to meet with the board on the issue as he is concerned about school safety.

CANFIELD — Resident Brad Kincade addressed the Canfield Board of Education at a recent board meeting about the Material Sciences Corp. chemical leak in July, saying he does not think the district is taking the leak seriously enough.

“Unfortunately five months worth of research couldn’t quite make three minutes of time (allotted during public presentation), and the buzzer sounded before I could finish the last paragraph,” Kincade wrote to Board of Education President Nader Atway.

Kincade requested a meeting with the board but was directed to meet with the superintendent instead.

In response to Kincade’s letter, Atway wrote, “As for your formal request to meet with the board, I would respectfully defer that request to start with our superintendent. In his role, he manages the day to day operations of the district and is well equipped to address any questions or concerns you may have. In addition, with our next meeting scheduled for Feb. 12, you may have all of your questions answered at the community forum on Feb. 3 since Mr. (Joe) Knoll will be in attendance. Again, historically, we do not grant individual requests to meet with the board as it would have to have a reason to go into executive session following the guidelines that allow us to do so. Otherwise, it would be a public meeting as all of our meetings are on a monthly basis.”

The Feb. 3 meeting is scheduled to have members from all involved parties, including the city, the Ohio EPA, and it is hoped a representative from MSC.

“The public forum is something that I have been pushing for since I went forward with this at the city council meeting in October,” Kincade said.

In the meantime, MSC released another update that responded to questions submitted by the community. One question regarded what the recent investigations have uncovered.

Based on data collected thus far, some chemicals have been identified that do not connect to MSC or previous owners of the operations. The chemicals in question include Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds such as Benzo(a)anthracene, Benzo(a)pyrene, and Benzo(b)fluoranthene. The recent release stated these chemicals are commonly observed along railroad and rail line activities. The present bike trail where a lot of these chemicals were found was an active rail line into the early 1980s.

MSC reported in its release that August Mack — an environmental consulting firm — collected 195 soil and nine surface water samples. Those samples showed “no exceedances in the Sawmill Creek Tributary surface water associated with the facility’s electroplating process water. There were detections in the Sawmill Creek Tributary soil above U.S. EPA Residential Screening Levels (RSL), and further investigation is necessary.”

Cyanide, zinc and hexavalent chromium are associated with the facility’s electroplating process and were detected in soil above RSLs in the Sawmill Creek Tributary. Regarding arsenic that was detected in the soil samples, the news release stated it is a naturally occurring element and MSC does not believe it is part of the chemicals released from the site.

Regarding the next step, MSC said its short-term plan is to install a temporary fence to prevent direct contact with water sources while additional sampling takes place. For the long term, the company plans to continue discussions with the Ohio EPA to determine exposure risk and a long-term solution to properly design and clean up contamination where necessary.

A final question on the latest update from MSC concerned the safety of drinking water. MSC said the city of Canfield handles the drinking water, and it is safe. The city will have a representative at the Feb. 3 town hall meeting.

Kincade said he plans to continue the pressure until the “right thing is done.” He wants to ensure the school is safe, as well as the neighborhoods downstream from MSC. As for the high school, Atway told Kincade the situation is being carefully monitored.

“Our Superintendent Mr. Knoll has been pulled into discussions to continue to prioritize the safety of our students,” Atway said. “In fact, we also have offered up the Canfield High School auditorium to allow for a community meeting on this topic, where our superintendent will be in attendance and a part of the panel.”