[0:00] okay now Rec so we'll go ahead and start with a roll call D

[0:07] Ro

[0:10] th itones and everything

[0:17] [Music]

[0:21] else we just started we just took a roll call are there just four of us yeah

[0:26] that's it oh that's right

[0:31] so the first thing we just need to approve minutes from our October 30th

[0:37] meeting I assume everybody's

[0:50] chance nobody so Jim you made a motion Jim

[0:58] second all in favor

[1:07] it's so just kind of to give everybody update kind of where things

[1:12] are I know this is a crazy time of the year we continue to work on our

[1:21] respective sections so basically we have an outline it's still in a draft uh in

[1:27] case we need to edit that or update that as we go go along uh

[1:34] but we're we're doing our breakout sessions so there's two you know I'm

[1:39] working with Jerica Joe and Jim we're working together we've taken the outline

[1:44] we've broken out sections that way we can kind of

[1:49] work on different parts of the

[1:52] report and that's kind of where we're at right now taking the

[1:56] information applying it to the outline and

[2:01] working on drafts so and we have sections drafted already

[2:07] I would it's not just an outline

[2:11] yeah yeah it's the five pages of the draft and

[2:16] there's 14 sections breaking out 14 sections yeah yeah it's about five pages

[2:25] so y that's kind of been it's a nice guide for us and

[2:30] I think helps us see how to split the workout so and we have each section

[2:38] assigned to an owner already and each owner is either working in their

[2:42] individual and or in their sub groups

[2:46] writing and as needed we can meet

[2:53] but that's kind of where things are right now as far as drafting the report

[2:58] uh we did have a couple individuals potentially that may want to sit

[3:07] down sit down with us and talk to us that's really preliminary

[3:14] um we'll keep you up

[3:20] we that's really I mean kind of my brief update yeah I don't know if anybody else

[3:27] has any

[3:30] you know one one of the things we've been waiting on wanted to get an

[3:33] attorney on we got Chris and his group and they put together three expansive

[3:38] files they took all the documents everything that we had obtained either

[3:43] from folks here from the city or whatever information we had that they

[3:47] wanted to have part of the report uh they put it through over 7,000

[3:53] pages so I I've gone through the three

[3:59] different files and as it says it says 7,000 pages but I

[4:03] will tell you this 30% of that is duplication yeah there's there there's

[4:09] studies and reports and and emails I've seen them they're like like

[4:15] 1,25 there's 30 pages of documents that run up to 25 Pages run

[4:22] 1,250 well I find those again at 1,300 I got the exact same 25 pag

[4:30] so 7,000 but you got to go through everyone because as we write the reports

[4:36] we have to reference where that document is and so I will reference

[4:42] number 1,225

[4:46] 1,265 2330 whatever it is so um and there's things like you know

[4:55] page 1,254 those are through

[5:01] 1,261 those are emails related to uh Nick Warner wanting to try to uh build

[5:09] on the site or release on the site that's email where Paul says we need to

[5:15] keep them here and engaged so we're trying to figure out all

[5:20] those components and what's behind that whole email thre so um to say we're just

[5:27] looking at documents you know so now got this like okay what else supports this

[5:32] so what else is behind this and U so I find more of those informations you know

[5:39] pieces you run all the way back to page I don't know somewhere like the 800s

[5:45] section so um it's a lot of work lot of material

[5:51] it's it's a lot of material we write the report if we put something in a report

[5:55] we've got to have documentation behind right if it's in a report we've got to

[6:00] support it right it'll be some sort of citation to where document that

[6:06] supports and we talked about since there's so much

[6:09] material like the idea of maybe having two appendices at the end or maybe you

[6:16] know we have all these documents this is all the documents that we've accumulated

[6:20] that's one aend and then another one for these are the documents that are

[6:25] referenced in our in that way Ian like Joe said you know there's so many

[6:31] duplications and the document is not going to or our reports I don't think

[6:35] going to reference 7,000 ages no like but by having two

[6:40] appendices then well I I would think that depending

[6:44] on the length of the report you might want to consider an executive summary

[6:49] that is has just takes the main report distills it down to an executive summary

[6:54] that would like to form the basis of the presentation to council and to the

[6:58] public and I just attach that to

[7:02] theend well again I mean that will be determined once once you see the length

[7:07] of it I think we can come up with a way that just

[7:11] makes if the if the reports with between the appendix with the ex with the

[7:16] citations and it's you know 50 pages plus the appendix it's 100 I think in an

[7:20] executive summary would be beneficial to the public and everybody telling them

[7:24] what they need to know whatever the findings were that you've

[7:27] made yeah that's uh to recap that on your email we said some

[7:34] some questions about what we're looking at you said right here all the3 look at

[7:38] an executive summary citations of such so all

[7:48] right so anyway I just wanted to bring that forward and let you know you know

[7:53] obviously we haven't been public but but there there's just a volume we were

[7:57] working on and uh because now we're working into writing a report we've got

[8:01] to have our doct in a row we it's got to be structured we've got to organize it

[8:05] so like I said 7,000 pages but 30% of those are just duplicates W even need to

[8:12] be siding those and then I don't know why you put in and that's for some

[8:16] reason we got we got documents about the wastewater treatment plant you know we

[8:21] got probably I know 50 60 pages about they got uh their permit they

[8:28] awarded their per from this year and some

[8:31] emails not not not nothing to do with the fire pit we're talking about the new

[8:35] wastewater treatment plan I like we don't care about that but somehow they

[8:39] ended up you know and some of the information the city D to us they ended

[8:44] up there so I think we when documents got requested maybe we

[8:51] got documents we didn't yeah that's a lot of reading for I'm looking for I'm

[8:55] looking for the ingame and like so bit just nothing but Wastewater stuff it's

[9:00] nothing to do with us that's that's 30 pages of my time G so

[9:06] anyway this

[9:11] just so I if anybody else has any comments

[9:16] or on you on committee remembers I mean Committee Member up

[9:27] update cuz Joe and I sit down one day Library went over history I

[9:33] think we got about all the history we can find on the old to the

[9:38] new yeah and then David he he was able to get hold of some pictures of the old

[9:44] original I yeah yeah part of the that that was easy part and looking

[9:53] at how we got to the City commissioners and the fire department and the

[9:57] recommendation turn plan into burn facility how did that even develop so

[10:03] I've been looking at a bunch of old city commission meetings trying to who said

[10:07] what said what about what and trying to capture every city meeting this was top

[10:13] of the conversation in its Origins um so again not just that I had

[10:20] site what the meeting date was who said what kind of what what was there and I

[10:25] tell you from what I can see I haven't seen one that really had most of them

[10:30] have been positive when they were thinking about the burn plant putting up

[10:35] facility out there at the water plan I don't know if people didn't realize what

[10:40] was going to happen or we weren't paying attention but most the comments from the

[10:44] Commissioners were let's do it what's wrong with it I don't remember maybe one

[10:50] or two where questioned it was a problem so but that's part of the research so

[10:57] far one other item I think it's worth noting Chris's pic announced this today

[11:03] that they hired a new law director oh okay um she will not start until January

[11:10] 6 I'm not

[11:14] sure is it Jess J am I pronouncing Jess or Jennifer

[11:20] starts with a

[11:24] J is it Jess okay I believe Mr patria's last Daye is

[11:32] 12:30 well he'll be the 6 too bring

[11:45] her so we'll touch base with her once she gets

[11:53] started so the only other thing I have is you know we've seen that U Mr Smith

[11:59] did put in his report to get to the city said or said he had a report I don't

[12:04] know if they've seen it I hear that it's out there I haven't seen it I don't know

[12:09] what the status of that is but um understand that you know he did get his

[12:13] results in so that was one item that I wanted to mention that

[12:20] if if Scott's results are

[12:27] finished if anybody would share those with the committee that would

[12:31] be fantastic and we could include those in the report with all the other reports

[12:38] y so was was Mr Smith is the person who's

[12:43] done some ground and water testing and there testing he did some testing here

[12:48] in town where exactly in town I'm not 100%

[12:52] sure but I think if I read part of it right I think it was three different

[12:57] spots and it was I know obviously because the city there

[13:01] was no one from the city to let him to the grounds it

[13:05] was if you guys want to correct me please feel free to do so but it was

[13:08] outside of the water where the burns took place outside of the building

[13:13] around the dog park and then at a residential home where's the

[13:18] dog the street Scott have

[13:28] dog SC came in in the summer and environmental

[13:32] suppos but but was he retained by a group of citizens by the city or is he

[13:37] doing this as a volunteer um as far as I know volunteer

[13:42] I've never asked or inquired about never heard any conversation it's just that

[13:49] he's trying to support you know help us figure out help some citizens they

[13:53] reached out and he's supporting them but I drove to East pal

[14:01] to seek Scott and other experts for our

[14:07] community and has he provided the test results to anybody yet we will be having

[14:12] a zoom meeting that will be open for anyone to join to go over the

[14:19] results would you uh could you email me that

[14:25] absolutely yeah we're just um nailing down last couple experts because we're

[14:31] going to have Scott on there and a toxicologist probably a doctor that sort

[14:35] of thing so um everyone can understand all aspects of what these numbers and

[14:41] these terrible results are so what you share maybe the link to

[14:48] to the zoom meeting yeah I'll be posting it on as soon as we've got the date it's

[14:54] hard to uh you know we've got holidays coming up and it's hard to schedule you

[15:01] know some people that are time is very valuable um you know when you're talking

[15:07] about professors and doctors and you know Experts of that level um I'm just

[15:14] kind of waiting for a date that we all can it sounds like you're hoping for

[15:18] some in January I was I was hoping for uh 27th but

[15:34] that's all I a public

[15:45] comment we just talk about we got a little more to

[15:52] do yeah anybody has public comments or questions well as doing research are you

[16:01] finding any wrongdoing that concerns

[16:06] you you don't have to be specific I think if you you know these are

[16:12] interesting questions because if you give an answer it will presume that you

[16:18] predetermined some results so what I can what I think you could say is you're

[16:24] comfortable doing is to say that you know your initial what your initial

[16:27] Impressions might be um but I wouldn't go into anything that

[16:31] would suggest that you reach the final

[16:35] conclusion yes put it out I and say I've seen some questionable decision

[16:41] making what do you think the long de was in all this you think it was just oh

[16:47] it's going to come down to handshakes and financial gain to the detriment of

[16:55] the health and wellbeing of the Citizens We're going to push this through can can

[16:59] I can I answer that so you know as I sit here and I don't live in the city um and

[17:08] kind of came in here late to the game it seems to me that there's one truth that

[17:12] I think that everybody can agree on and that is this should never have occurred

[17:17] at this facility I think I don't think anybody disputes that uh it was not

[17:21] appropriate to engage in testing of lithium and ion batteries it was unsafe

[17:27] um I have an so I don't know if anybody disagrees

[17:31] with that statement I'm making an assumption that they do so once you get

[17:36] to that place you got a spectrum your your question implies that

[17:42] was their intention knowing intention to take

[17:47] advantage of a situation uh for what presumably would

[17:52] have been some type of form of personal profit okay we know that's always a

[17:56] possibility all the way to the other extreme that you just have some form of

[18:01] flawed human decision making that doesn't have bad motive to it it's just

[18:07] people weren't doing the things that they should have been doing um and my

[18:13] sense is uh because I certainly haven't seen any you know final gra that we're

[18:18] beginning to add in tailor is that um the conclusion is going to be

[18:24] somewhere between these two places cuz that's just the way life is um

[18:31] [Music] and my senses based upon what that

[18:36] they're still on the draft phases that they're not prepared to answer that

[18:39] question directly yet so and by the way I'll also say this

[18:44] I know that we did the committee did receive a public records request I think

[18:48] one maybe two so all the information that they have has been produced and is

[18:53] out there as well anybody else who wants to get it they're more welcome to make

[18:57] their own requests as well It's relatively simple to get a link for

[19:01] somebody so that form is pretty transparent and I

[19:07] I know for me personally that I certainly would be looking forward to

[19:11] hearing what those test results were because that's an important piece of all

[19:14] of this and uh and I think that's something that the city and U elate

[19:20] officials would have to deal with based upon with the preliminary results have

[19:25] already been posted on Facebook so I'm not faceb

[19:29] person I've only seen like the screenshot

[19:34] on of an Excel file it looks like of some tabulated results but there's not a

[19:40] lot of context I'm not an expert obviously in the space um but I would I

[19:44] I just don't have context and there's then there's no one to ask any type of

[19:48] Q&A to so it's really hard for me to understand what those preliminary

[19:54] results I don't even understand what they mean right yeah that's why we're

[19:59] having a zoom meeting yeah that would be very helpful I think that's a really

[20:03] good forum so there can be some more Q&A and some more context of the

[20:08] findings yeah I just want to make sure that the experts and the information is

[20:13] presented in a way that nothing can be questioned and it will all be

[20:16] straightforward with no fluff because I think that the citizens in the community

[20:21] has suffered and I think that we've suffered long

[20:25] enough and I think that it would be nice to have a bit of Truth so I know did I

[20:33] answer your question any

[20:37] questions another one yeah when you when you look back at the commission meetings

[20:43] um to WR around around when this was proposed okay um when this was proposed

[20:51] to the Commissioners it seems like it was the

[20:55] only option that was proposed well this is going to be a fire training

[20:59] facility that's it commissioner commissioner commissioner yes yes yes

[21:05] yes we vote that it is going to be a fire training facility so they weren't

[21:10] given like I would say any other options but

[21:16] fire training facility yeah don't remember the date but I do know early on

[21:20] it seemed like it came down to destroy it you know re repurpose the ground take

[21:26] things down demolish that was one of the that that was discussed very early

[21:31] meetings but after that I've not heard another meeting where somebody said I

[21:34] want I want to move the dog park over there or I want to do something else

[21:38] I've only heard recommendations for uh the battery thing I think yeah it's it

[21:44] seems like they were just kind of almost like pigeon P yeah I don't know if other

[21:48] things came forward and nobody else did I just can tell you what I've seen the

[21:52] only thing I've ever heard was the burn battery or not not battery burn it was

[21:56] never battery burn it was all fire training all fire training fire training

[22:01] yeah it sounded like and everybody the Commissioners Fire Chief and and the

[22:07] assistant city manager those early meetings uh we're looking at it as as a

[22:10] business opportunity for the city an area for us to get revenue and for that

[22:16] site to not be a light but actually be a revenue generator and a positive for the

[22:21] city so ear conversations make great sense but I'd like to Che there well it

[22:28] doesn't make sense see I would buy that up until the point of the actual lease

[22:34] 500 bucks a month rent yeah and utilities included what business in town

[22:40] pays that that was not a money their utilities one of

[22:47] decision and offers to put up signage for their their

[22:52] their operation go yeah so I mean it's a little

[22:59] there was an interview with Justin smers who is the assistant city manager and I

[23:04] if I remember what he said in the interview it was something along the

[23:08] line obviously they weren't sharing the least pricings at that point in time now

[23:12] we know what we know and I think additionally what he added they did a

[23:16] survey uh that was around economic growth and development in 2016 so he was

[23:22] discussing the survey results and then he was also sharing that part of this

[23:27] was around the economic devel of bringing citizens into PB so then they'

[23:31] be eating at our restaurants staying at hotels you know that the money would be

[23:36] once again he said to bring 500 people we didn't have one commissioner up there

[23:43] that didn't think this through if we're going to have 500 people show up for

[23:46] training where would they go to park out there where would 500 people fit I'm not

[23:51] saying I age so I just my thing is there may have been some questionable it seems

[23:57] like there's a lot of questionable things you know but what was the Moe of

[24:01] buying that I don't really care at this point I think when things have been done

[24:06] they've been done and the damage is done so who's going to make that right yeah

[24:11] we're living in hiide unfortunate all this but I think truth to be told some

[24:15] of the deeper questions you guys have asked in our meetings and who did what

[24:21] is his responsibility and the various stuff this committee is never going to

[24:26] be able to get to some those answers we just just won't you don't have the

[24:29] subpoena power I I know said subpoena power that's I could subpoena

[24:34] anybody and they say no thanks Joe have a great day I got I personally know some

[24:39] people from the city that are waiting for one because they want to talk to you

[24:44] but they won't on their own so I feel like that that's sad because there's

[24:49] people that want that and I can I add one thing though I

[24:54] I do think it is important for us part of the resolution is how did this happen

[24:59] so we have to go back and ask ourselves how did this happen what was the mindset

[25:04] of the city at the time and it is important it doesn't make it right or

[25:08] wrong it doesn't justify what happened but we have to that's why we have to it

[25:12] seems a little more than a community that was strapped and starving for

[25:16] economic development and some 500 bucks a month yeah well I mean but there's

[25:24] other Dynamics in play here too which is I believe that there was a fir that was

[25:28] required with the Ia involved the right was there appropriate

[25:34] state agency oversight were they doing the things they were supposed to do I

[25:39] mean there there's a there's a lot to unbundle here in some ways and you know

[25:43] sometimes the answers can be very simple sometimes they're not and um the are you

[25:49] going to unbundle those do you intend to unbundle all of these things or are we

[25:54] just going to drive on over them and w I think that if they're appropriately if

[26:00] they need to be addressed they will be addressed and but but keeping in mind

[26:05] this is a Citizens group that has certain limited powers there's an

[26:10] intention to bring these things to light you have an interest in that I'm sure

[26:14] that if this committee does something that you find to be deficient you're

[26:17] going to share your view them and I'm glad that people are aware of

[26:22] that I'm a little confused about one thing uh at the last meeting you

[26:29] specifically said that the environmental concerns and health concerns were not

[26:34] the perview of this committee but now you've just shown some interest in Scott

[26:39] Smith's results and you said those would be important to know why are those

[26:44] important well because it's it may not be important to know for this this

[26:50] committee per se but those are matters of public concern for all the citizens

[26:55] and is as a part of a transparent process

[26:58] I think everybody needs to know those things now the the the role of the EPA

[27:06] in this is something that I think I've seen some documents related to that and

[27:11] I think that that would need to be addressed um so I I don't think my

[27:15] comments are find out if Amber Hicks had the authority to sign off on this

[27:21] because I asked about that it's unclear doesn't seem like she did

[27:28] that seemed like should have gone up to the next

[27:31] level she wasn't even in our region she was over in bware and what they

[27:36] originally presented to her I'm not sure how much she knew if that's exactly what

[27:40] they were going to do here but anyway some somehow somewhere what they started

[27:44] in Delaware and what we got it expanded to a point where it was a lot worse here

[27:51] so this was uh 2 2017 right that all I know was that in election year I don't

[28:00] know because I'd be I'd be interested to see if there

[28:04] were about 16 was well 16 was a presidential election year but but but

[28:10] staggered terms of council you there could have been Council people running

[28:14] don't know you got to look at schedle yeah because there might have been

[28:18] incentives this type of technology to be yeah from our government like incentives

[28:25] from our government to um Institute the this type of technology and stuff and

[28:31] then little communities like ours uh you know say Hey you know that piece of the

[28:36] pie looks good we can really use that money to build our infrastructure and

[28:42] you know fund our Public Utilities fire department all this other stuff and so

[28:49] they de with it and buy into it um and I think that's uh a little disingenuous uh

[28:57] you know to if that if that was something that

[29:01] did occur you know like I said that's going to be hard

[29:06] to look into and come up with but you could at least look into around those

[29:12] years and see I guess maybe it was Obama back then or and just uh just see if

[29:18] there was any like um environmental incentives being pushed out around those

[29:25] years for community to take advantage

[29:32] of well there might have been like like some grants grants and Green Field

[29:38] Brownfield Grayfield like environmental grants uh

[29:43] environmental Technologies EPA grants wasn't there a push for green

[29:48] energy at that like several years ago you know all that type of stuff it was I

[29:54] think it was in the news like we're going green

[29:59] and all these businesses are going to get green energy tax incentives and I I

[30:04] just think there was a lot of talk about that uh several years back and maybe

[30:09] that has a push you know an incentive to to do with this whole thing and I also

[30:17] have been reading on U The Battery Technology is being adopted um

[30:25] supposedly around Kentucky they said KY is supposed to be like the

[30:30] battery Capital world of the world we were supposed to be yeah but okay

[30:38] supposedly we were supposed to I don't quit joking I'm not okay I don't

[30:44] know do you know what our slogan is dine we're leading the

[30:48] charge I like f okay

[30:55] like the battery everything is B today is pretty

[31:02] much and we they kind of jumped into this without doing a lot of research we

[31:08] do a lot of research after we get into things to see you know after we discover

[31:13] issues or problems in in the world the next technolog is going to come out

[31:16] we're going to end up with the same you know and and I I you know did did did

[31:21] they look at it as an opportunity to become the leader in you know

[31:28] in the world here you know because they had people from Norway here Sweden here

[31:34] South Korea was here a lot of and look at the

[31:40] big look at the big people in in lii Battery area I mean Tesla uses tons they

[31:48] lot of money you know so they're pushing for things to get things done but I

[31:53] think initially it might started out as a potential gold mine

[31:59] for battery technology for battery for battery testing and technology and and

[32:04] things like that because I know I mean we had the report I don't know if it was

[32:08] in our gr packet or not or I read it someplace but New York

[32:14] City has done the same testing that it was here their fire department with the

[32:19] same companies that were here the same firms and and it's a very really long

[32:25] comprehensive information packet from them

[32:28] that talked about the different Avenues and dangers and pluses and minuses and

[32:33] things like that so to frame the issue Joe I think you mentioned this so when

[32:39] the initial discussions were evolving over what to do with this

[32:45] property yeah the the impression I have is that people landed on the idea of a

[32:52] training facility train Fire Training Facility Green State univ some point it

[32:59] changed into a testing facility absolutely a joint thing I mean more

[33:05] testing than train but it was still there but the original

[33:09] discussion did did not include the idea of it using it as a testing facility a

[33:14] laboratory of shorts well I think in the agendas for or the minutes for the some

[33:21] of those early commission and Planning Commission meetings there was no they

[33:25] mentioned battery it was from it was from day

[33:28] one day one day one they they they had those power walls shipped here before we

[33:35] even had a sign resolution that's kind of how it started it was like Tesla I

[33:41] thinkes power pack power walls bur in the minutes for the commission and

[33:49] Planning Commission meetings there was briefly mentioned like research like I

[33:56] forget exactly the words yeah was they said testing so we kind of like misled

[34:01] the Commissioners they didn't mention anything about burning that's why they

[34:06] said the people that were on the commission at the time did this mean

[34:10] burning you know they were like confused well this thing jumped off really quick

[34:15] so 12517 the first email between Chief poer BGSU G Gonzalez dones artman hey I

[34:25] understand you guys want to visit our our location here State 66 on 1211 they

[34:31] have a site visit with Dal zartman BGSU car the Dos is there and

[34:37] they're like hey we have an urgent need for some battery testing with DN D and

[34:43] VG was engaged with Tesla Tom benman and his group they want to move forward they

[34:49] had they want to get testing done by 11:30 by 1:30 by by January 30th the

[34:57] next year want to do some testing so this is this is six days later they're

[35:01] on the site the next day the chief engages with EPA and Amber Hicks in

[35:06] Delaware about how the process goes to get EPA then 12:15 Chief asked for a

[35:13] onepage summary from uh Tom benman in that group so he can send it to Raba and

[35:20] Dallas says he will have Nick send a detailed summary his first indication of

[35:25] a Nick Warner in 1219 females Tom at BSF and d and Amber Hicks

[35:32] and Jason fiser and they say you need to go and use Raba so by 12:29 Chief has

[35:41] turned his first application into burn and

[35:45] by4 by4 approved Jason Simon and Craig

[35:50] Butler approv the the burn by 14 and then looks what year

[35:58] within five weeks but did any of that come before the city

[36:02] commission I on the 18

[36:08] 116 18 was the one meeting there's a lot of

[36:12] people cop don't remember who yeah because they pull off YouTube and we

[36:18] were all like what happened to the meeting on 11618 it's an excellent

[36:23] summary well thank you I'm just telling you that that I've been

[36:28] in business a lot long time you do something that fast and it's the first

[36:33] time you're ever doing it you're going to screw it up somebody needed to take a

[36:37] step back and say wait a minute I don't care what your testing dates are we need

[36:43] to understand I think theou was drafted during this period it was a whole series

[36:49] of events that just launched off way too fast there was no resolution then yeah

[36:54] they didn't think this went through they just pushed it pushed it we got to hurry

[36:58] up here come the power walls we already shipped them but even before the January

[37:01] 16th commission meeting there was a Planning Commission

[37:06] meeting and they wanted to change verbage and everything I think it was

[37:11] unanimous and there were only two individuals to my knowledge that came

[37:15] forward during public comment during the Planning Commission meeting and had

[37:20] questions about how this might affect the property values if I'm remembering

[37:24] that right um but it was within the econom objectives of the city so I I

[37:31] think it was unanimous vote and then went the city commission and you're

[37:35] correct it was unanimous for them as well yeah and Jo right it happened

[37:42] like that's why the community is upset how did these people approve this no

[37:48] questions well we were let down by EPA too yeah everybody we let down by

[37:54] everybody Bowling Green let's not forget them there's a question

[38:00] dueil dueil have you guys looked into what

[38:05] kind of possible gain that BG made from this either Financial or uh you know

[38:13] educational or I'm sure there had to been sort of financial game uh B

[38:19] experienced through an extent they they've shut us down we have to know

[38:24] exactly what we want from them otherwise they won't give it to us well it's a

[38:30] good thing we have bunch of stuff if somebody has it that's awesome

[38:35] but Nancy got shut down she tried she got a lot of stuff and then she went

[38:39] back and that turning sent you some letter and some other lady got involved

[38:45] and they were like just too broad in scope so it's when you rewrite your your

[38:51] ask you reframe it you rewrite it you narrow it down

[38:58] I think I saw something online where it was a uh it was something it was it

[39:04] might have been a commission meeting or might have been another type of meeting

[39:07] but Kevin isy cringy I call him

[39:11] cringy Kevin cran I think anyway they they question they questioned him and he

[39:21] said is this going to affect the city in any adverse type of way and then he

[39:27] answered no this is all plume smoke well what happens to Plumes that go up in

[39:34] this and in the sky we all we all learned uh through East Palestine what

[39:40] happens when Plum smoke comes up goes up in the sky has to come down somewhere

[39:45] according to Mr Lang it hung over swiftrun Lake because of an inversion

[39:51] Cloud type anomaly so I mean that's that's where we get our drinking water

[39:59] supply from you know that's very very very concerning yeah the resolution had

[40:06] seven questions but you're not limited to those are you expanding into other

[40:12] focuses such as the money Trail how did the city make money how

[40:19] was money shuffled back and forth from these companies B and

[40:24] green you have that Incorporated in the

[40:29] outline yeah the outline but to this great

[40:35] question answer to launch off to get get the report started on the Baseline we

[40:40] focused on the seven questions and once we get those answer get the report there

[40:45] then we about the next step and um you know but to finish my one comment is is

[40:51] to get some of the questions that you guys have and people involved um I I

[40:56] think somewhere somehow that's going to be a lawsuit somebody's going to be

[41:01] deposed because I just don't I just don't see anybody give those Hest

[41:07] answers another thing about the batteries the batteries themselves when

[41:13] we would go out there there were about size of two LG refrigerators

[41:19] one stacked on the top of ladder didn't even reach you couldn't even guy pul

[41:26] himself up from the ladder what type of battery is that was just was that just

[41:33] the containment system and there's actually car batteries stacked in that

[41:38] containment system or was that an entire battery video I'll show you okay that's

[41:44] a great question but the city never required a bill liting nobody ever

[41:47] recorded or took pictures or or documented what was brought

[41:53] in city has that you know if that was a battery within itself so that big that's

[41:59] something that would be akin to something that would power a large large

[42:04] large like solar power from my understanding Nick those were used in

[42:10] submarines aircraft what are we doing submarine matter for military around the

[42:16] world really one person that question is the third party who was doing the burn

[42:21] out there he has that informational

[42:27] so

[42:31] Marine solar system well Energy Systems like s and so it started out kind

[42:38] of small with uh Tesla wall all batteries and then we have Korea coming

[42:47] in that great then we have South Korea and all these visitors from Chrysler

[42:53] dler and whoever else uh Mr BMW Mercedes Mercedes whoever whoever else Mr oror

[43:02] mentioned at one of the commission meetings so a lot of private citizens

[43:08] that we can't get access to they won't just talk they w't talk to us for fear

[43:12] that they're going to be involved in a lawsuit yeah so they are not going to

[43:16] speak to us they have no reason to so that's what I mean so those are

[43:21] great questions but unfortunately people have those answers are private citizens

[43:25] that we can't yeah I mean those car companies what do they have to do with

[43:32] fire train

[43:36] I this huge push to electric vehicles yeah but I mean it was

[43:44] designated at the very onset fire training with the very first

[43:51] day one they were burning so and so I feel like if you look at the

[43:57] agendas on the commission meetings commission

[44:02] meetings briefly talk talking about they they used that as the rle in the law the

[44:09] Ohio revised code to get the permit they had to use firefighter training as the

[44:14] excuse because if you're a firefighter you can burn anything you want yeah so

[44:19] they're operating under that permit that's why they had to get the new

[44:24] permit there you go at some point Incorporated

[44:28] testing burn training and testing easier to keep things under the

[44:33] radar yeah firefighter training you're fine wasn't the first firefighter actual

[44:38] firefighter training April 2024 or whatever they had to open house yes that

[44:44] was the first actual firefighter training and that is when the 20e

[44:49] contract started on that building yeah a week prior to the EPA arriving they

[44:54] stake their claim in the ground and said we got a building now no we got a we got

[45:00] a burn building this is this now we're legit we were fire we were a fire

[45:05] training facility all along you know EPA there's nothing look got logos on it

[45:11] yeah we got logos we got a door on sign it makes us

[45:16] legit no you're you're a defunct water treatment facility if you want to if you

[45:21] want to build out your proper fire training facility you know all the bells

[45:27] and whistles then like you need to talk to the city too about the where

[45:32] everything drains out there you know how everything that whole property drains to

[45:38] our River I think that's beyond the scope

[45:42] what this commit well I think though if youve got recommendations maybe

[45:46] recommend that the city does not let that property drain out there would

[45:51] drainage but you got you've got the this ground this I want to call it the

[45:58] community meeting with test results and everything else it seems to me that's

[46:01] the logical place where those pieces of the discussion would come out but you

[46:05] guys are supposed to do recommendations right so that could be a recommendation

[46:10] we don't feel like this property should drain into the river I think that

[46:15] there's a that there is the fact that you're here the fact that you're doing

[46:19] the things that you're doing means that there is are a group of concerned

[46:24] citizens who want more than what this Comm committee is just going to do this

[46:28] is going to tell you how we got here you're talking about what's what if

[46:33] anything needs to be done to fix it you're indicating that the preliminary

[46:37] information you have suggests that that needs to be done but that sure as heck

[46:41] is Way Beyond anything this committee can be can do I don't think soil results

[46:45] have anything to do with drainage of soil well what I'm saying is is that

[46:51] this committee isn't going to hire experts they don't have any funding for

[46:55] that they do in the actually how many times do I have to remind you have you

[47:00] read the resolution I just I just pulled it up and I'll pull it up again it has

[47:05] money in there for for experts

[47:09] actually and as a comme without Chris giving his opinion aren't you concerned

[47:15] about the toxic results and the drainage of the soil are you limiting yourself

[47:21] but you also have two people that said it's clean

[47:27] Scott pH both said it's clean who did Jack

[47:32] Lang and Scott Phillips and I can show the video Scott was talking about his

[47:37] property it probably makes you happy doesn't it yeah because they said

[47:41] they're experts they're well it seems to me that if you've got additional testing

[47:46] that hasn't been produced yet that that information will is relevant to the

[47:52] discussion but nobody can reach any conclusions till they see that

[47:59] I mean we for our report we want to have these reports to discuss them in our

[48:05] report yeah absolutely now you do have the ability to go back to commission and

[48:10] ask for additional funds so you know if you shouldn't so need them to do

[48:17] remediation yeah to do extra things within your you know you really could

[48:23] help out the city because if you love the city you should probably want them

[48:26] to not be sued right I don't know it would be great if they they don't have

[48:30] to be sued you know what I mean we have to sue every everybody to get that

[48:36] remediated out there I guess this what's going to have to happen but see we were

[48:40] just kind of hoping that maybe it didn't have to get to that point you know and

[48:46] that a few good citizens A Few Good Men could get in

[48:51] there do the right thing you know so you you believe that the commit is waiting

[48:57] for a recommendation or the council's waiting for a recommendation of this

[49:01] committee it says you you you hire patronize me

[49:07] no I'm curious okay it does talk about the committee does have can make

[49:13] requests for certain things but but fundamentally that money comes from the

[49:18] public treasury that that contract would be between the expert in the city to go

[49:24] and do whatever the scope of work would be I feel the government needs to pay

[49:28] for the remediation what I'm asking something different okay okay because

[49:33] you jump to the that there absolutely needs to be

[49:37] remediation that I don't know if there's anything that definitively says that

[49:42] there is contamination there there's no question the process of burning lithium

[49:47] ion batteries can create contaminant but whether or not that's

[49:52] led to contamination well I know what happened to me physically that I've have

[49:58] thorough documentation on and some other folks and you know that with the with

[50:05] the testing results and yeah it's I would I would love nothing more than the

[50:12] city to take this seriously and and so there's pieces to this it seems to me

[50:19] they're clearly engaging they this report will be done you know what we we

[50:24] were wanting to rip you guys apart today you did a good job I think liked your

[50:30] summary even your input was kind of welcome David great updates jarck

[50:38] great updates but I feel like I don't know like my

[50:44] detector is going off like and that's fair and I'm not going

[50:48] to try and argue you shouldn'ts like you're talking

[50:54] side result there's a process and I think you're talking too much

[50:59] because it's really the committee yeah that should be doing this research and

[51:03] they can they can pull you in when they ask for your advice but you just

[51:07] dominate the conversation well I'm sorry I'm sorry you feel that I don't think so

[51:12] but I've got the most experience I've got the most experence I've got the most

[51:16] experience in how these processes work this is a process I'm not influencing an

[51:20] outcome I'm helping you a no I'm not if if you want to reach that conclusion you

[51:26] reach that conclusion the fact is there's a process this committee is

[51:30] going to have a conclusion but you're telling them what the process should be

[51:34] they should be the ones toci they the process is is a universal process gather

[51:39] information from all sources read the information prepare a report put it out

[51:43] there for people to make the conclusions that they have you have people on this

[51:47] side you should re eliminate topics I'm there's no been no topic that has

[51:52] definitively been eliminated when we no no when we met last week I said we're in

[51:58] the middle of a process where it goes is to be detered said the environment not

[52:03] per but it is is could can this committee say this should be looked into

[52:11] yes they can should they well should they resolution again again you got to

[52:18] you have to get there first and the process hasn't played out you have no

[52:25] you you're the one you're the one who's challenging me so I'm responding I'd

[52:29] like to hear from the committee but you dominate I I don't think they need to

[52:33] hear from them because I think they're going to agree with me I'm here to hear

[52:36] the committee does the committee have

[52:39] anything to say on this yeah I hear what you're saying but let me ask

[52:47] you I'm not being humorous I'm being serious so if you drop a rock and a

[52:53] feather at the same time which one hits the ground

[52:58] the vacuum both exactly that global warming is it exist does it

[53:05] not exist I got arguments on both sides I don't think we're not experts we can't

[53:10] Aline on the results of the test because I don't know what the hell they say I

[53:14] see big numbers I see why us consult with experts

[53:22] it'ser we we weren't assigned to figure out if this is or not

[53:28] contaminated we get that is a city commission's

[53:34] decision I'm very concerned but it's not our decision the Commissioners have to

[53:37] say we're going to Pony up the money we're going to take this bull by the

[53:41] horn and we're going to do testing we're the City commissioners this is our

[53:45] responsibility you guys are tasked with seven things how did you start burning

[53:49] you're noteven we are because they seven is

[53:54] recommendations could you there in the resolution do you think

[54:00] they're going to give us $50,000 for testing of do you think we're going to

[54:04] get

[54:07] that they won't do it on their

[54:13] own, you could get answers with five to 10 which You' already isn't that the

[54:19] purpose of the zoom meeting that you're that you were hoping to have on the 27

[54:22] my question hasn't even been answered I just wanted to know where

[54:27] you were supposed to come up with one of the seven questions come up with

[54:30] recommendations could one of the recommendations be let's not draining

[54:34] this freaking facility straight into our river that goes to the Gulf of Mexico I

[54:38] don't know that I Haven SE test and then that's at least we're getting

[54:46] somewhere I don't see anything else let's speak to this contamination these

[54:50] contamination results real quick cuz I went to who contamination results you're

[54:55] all tell you I went to this

[54:59] special I did go to a special Commission

[55:04] meeting uh with the fire fire department there and the results were presented U

[55:11] at that meeting okay they said there was high level uh

[55:16] high levels of arsenic found in the soil standard for this area that's what they

[55:22] is we live in a two different kinds look it up expert I'm sorry are you looking

[55:26] at I did our is high in Ohio I'm just telling I'm just telling

[55:32] you what yeah you're right though you're right and then it went on to disclose

[55:37] that the highest amount of contamination was found in that chlorine room where

[55:43] they did a lot of The Burning uh a lot of the smaller scale testing I'm

[55:49] assuming um so I don't know what the the mitigation practices are going to be

[55:56] that boring room I don't know if they're going to tear it down but it's just I I

[56:01] look upon this as maybe like people that come in and remove remove asbest you

[56:07] would have to have something on that level and have a have a contamination

[56:12] group come in and capsulate all that and and and take it apart and transport it

[56:19] appropriately and dispose of it appropriately and I'm I'm curious as to

[56:24] whether you guys have found any as to where all of the materials were

[56:32] disposed

[56:38] of stand now I like there was a big there was a big H

[56:46] hogar trash receptacle out there but we we the city evicted them you know I

[56:55] believe in proper convicted them because they allow them to you know dismantle

[57:01] their stuff so let's have a third party from and dismantle that some somebody

[57:09] that's well versed in this Arena let's have them come in and mitigate practices

[57:15] and dismantling everything because then you don't have the the worry of um

[57:23] any mes or you know any play or anything like that um you know I

[57:33] so I want to address the issue of the money don't get the resolution pulled

[57:38] up section five of the resolution City leison shall be assigned to the

[57:43] committee by the mayor to assist in the retrieval of documents answer questions

[57:47] arrange interviews with Personnel Etc the committee will further have the

[57:51] ability to engage with Third Party Experts or counselor as necessary with

[57:56] the approval of the city commission so because they control the pur

[58:01] Springs the requests can be made but the city commission would have to then

[58:07] appropriate the funds for that I think the community would would respect and

[58:11] appreciate the right and what what I I think accuse me of keep speaking out of

[58:16] both sides of my mouth which I'm not doing but to your

[58:20] point if this committee sees the need that that other

[58:26] work would need to be done that would require the expenditure of money just

[58:32] generally I would expect that they would make a recommendation to the city

[58:36] commission that that money be appropriated for whatever that purpose

[58:39] is without saying what it is because there's still on the process and that's

[58:43] all I'm saying there's a process here the process has been furthered because

[58:48] now in the drafting stage another component of that process is you have

[58:53] additional information that you're going to be sharing at a public form

[58:56] that will have some relevance to what this committee is doing where that

[59:00] information leads this committee is to be determined again it's the process and

[59:06] I don't think that the process is precluded by anything because it depends

[59:10] on what they find city approved

[59:15] $25,000 towards the end of this calendar year are you alone gobbling that all up

[59:22] or is some of that also for experts that's yeah that's going to be for them

[59:27] to decide when the when the the draft is complete why do they have to wait till

[59:32] the draft is complete you need experts as you go along they're you know what

[59:37] they're going through their process okay I misspoke that let he what the

[59:40] chairperson has to say we need to get through this draft of the report because

[59:46] I'm planning on more questions coming up as we get closer to the finishing of the

[59:52] report now like you're saying you know if it becomes necessary for us to make a

[59:58] recommendation based you know if we can see Scott Smith's results and compare

[1:00:04] all these results you know maybe yeah we'll find something and a

[1:00:09] recommendation does need to be made to the city commission but at the end of

[1:00:12] the day like Chris is saying it's it's the city commission that's going to make

[1:00:16] these decisions I mean we're not we don't have any ability to say we want

[1:00:20] this expert you do too we can ask for it Commission what really gets me is the

[1:00:28] the the taxpayer has footed the bill yeah every step of the way right through

[1:00:34] through the beginning to where we are right now the taxpayer has funded every

[1:00:40] bit of this and and you're talking about everything from having uh city workers

[1:00:47] come down from the water plant to help with their stuff paying their WiFi

[1:00:52] signage you know on and on and on okay we have footed the bill all along the

[1:00:58] way and I I think that's terrible um I think some other people higher up in our

[1:01:06] community should take a pay cut you know and and

[1:01:13] kind of like yeah give back uh towards this um issue because they might be just

[1:01:22] leave they might be cable of causing a lot of this go

[1:01:30] down you know if you have a 20e contract before your eyes you know you better

[1:01:36] read into that before saying well I'm just going to re up and sign this for

[1:01:42] another 20 years and and and go on before you know you're looking at at any

[1:01:49] repercussions you're not looking at business across the street from you

[1:01:52] you're not looking at the source water that's above you you know

[1:01:56] looking that there's a park across the street from you you're not looking that

[1:02:00] there's a bicycle path above you you know it's just ridiculous totally

[1:02:06] ridiculous if they if they wanted to do this in a gravel pit somewhere I would

[1:02:11] be more comfortable I don't know how feasible

[1:02:16] that would be but I'm just saying they could have kept this away from our Parks

[1:02:20] and Recreation and our water supply and those people that were working down

[1:02:24] there from waterers Department Plan those people who thought their jobs were

[1:02:29] threatened if they wouldn't come down and work for this

[1:02:33] company why they didn't step forward and say wow there's plume smoke going over

[1:02:39] Swift Run Lake and we get we draw our water supplies from Swift L I don't know

[1:02:45] why they step forward and say I want to go back to

[1:02:51] Kevin he did mention one of those commission he said no this is just plume

[1:02:57] smoke well you know what plume is plume smoke those particles you know you see

[1:03:02] that those particles haven't fully combusted we're just kind of going

[1:03:07] around circles and circles so I think we make what is stopping you from

[1:03:11] contacting Scott Smith directly sure Scott and after the last

[1:03:17] meeting you and Joe were H to tr to talk to Alicia inter her she that she was

[1:03:24] available did you follow through on that you talk about what I'm sorry about

[1:03:30] following through with talking to Alicia you wanted to interview after the last

[1:03:35] meeting we talked about to do it public what I'm not

[1:03:42] saying the in the other long room don't remember conversation I'm not saying

[1:03:48] you're wrong I just don't remember well you're not interested in she's she's

[1:03:52] saying she's available I'm more than available I've been waiting since the

[1:03:57] last meeting for you all and I haven't gotten in any kind of

[1:04:03] letter with the little cute little logos or

[1:04:08] nothing so when you guys say that we're waiting on documents from the public we

[1:04:14] we're going to reach out to you you're going to give them the documents that

[1:04:17] you have if they ask for that's not what I said that's not what she said but we

[1:04:22] we had open interviews and I'm not not opposed to sharing information will you

[1:04:28] share the information you have with this committee I'm asking now well I mean I

[1:04:32] think we could we could discuss that how about you reach out to me and we'll talk

[1:04:37] I'm happy to do that I'm happy to talk to you

[1:04:41] your save Pi gmail.com you've emailed me before I have y I think I even followed

[1:04:48] up on that so yeah I think you yeah follow up

[1:04:56] can review the questions that pass T and I don't know when the next meeting is is

[1:05:01] going to be a Thursday from down no okay so at the next meeting maybe

[1:05:07] watch this back and say well that was a good question let's let's revisit and

[1:05:15] then get them an answer and so next meeting we can go over some of this

[1:05:19] stuff and maybe we'll have more clarity have you sent out any letters for any

[1:05:25] inters I mean I know you have like a rubric as as David shared is that there

[1:05:32] are uh ex there are exity employees as well as current and existing people that

[1:05:39] were involved that we've already reached out to to start those interview request

[1:05:44] um and I hope that those come through because that will give us a lot more

[1:05:47] information to a lot of just the missing pieces right

[1:05:52] now that's what you said no I didn't say anything about

[1:05:57] interviews a month ago a month ago I said that we need to really sit through

[1:06:01] the information to understand the gaps and then the and that's now what we're

[1:06:05] doing is trying to conduct interviews so are there

[1:06:10] any are there any statute of limitation dates that will pass while is taking so

[1:06:18] long ask okay do you know what the last day

[1:06:25] to file like let's say everyone in here wants to file a lawsuit What's the

[1:06:30] statute of limitations the

[1:06:36] date not anywh around C

[1:06:41] say apprciate everyone com I believe it's two years but I would just like an

[1:06:46] expert to confirm that is it two years from answer question you're the attorney

[1:06:53] I'm not the attorney for this group I'm repres this which I'm asking a I'm not

[1:06:58] I'm not I'm not provid that's legal advice I'm not your

[1:07:02] lawyers I just I'm just asking just a standard

[1:07:07] thing how Jer how how are you coming along on

[1:07:12] that timeline that you were working on are you still yeah and we have the

[1:07:18] timeline and we're working in and putting it into the electronic format of

[1:07:22] the draft so that way it's all electroni you think it could fill that

[1:07:26] it could probably be it probably changed a

[1:07:33] be opinion but that's your

[1:07:37] opinion there's a motion on the

[1:07:51] floor okay all in favor I I I'm glad they all got to see me

[1:07:59] tonight thank you I'd love to get a letter i' love to meet

[1:08:16] you do

[1:08:25] me down you stopped me from leaving the

[1:08:33] room I don't remember that

Commissioners Committee on the Fire Training Facility | December 19, 2024

Agenda

Transcript