By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
CENTREVILLE — Recent detection of a harmful substance in the ground at two locations in Centreville is prompting St. Joseph County officials to consider a bid to test the county jail and Animal Control buildings for said substance.
On Tuesday, July 8, the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners added to this week’s meeting agenda approval of an $18,700 bid from Fishbeck to perform environmental testing at the jail and Animal Control.
County Administrator Teresa Cupp told commissioners that recent boring and air quality testing done at Covered Bridge Healthcare and part of the strip mall on Industrial Parkway that runs near Animal Control found what she called “some levels” of a chemical called Tetrachloroethylene, or PCE, a toxic chemical that is mainly used as a dry cleaning agent; a dry cleaning business that operated a few decades ago had previously been at the strip mall that was recently tested.
The testing that would be done at the jail and Animal Control, according to the Fishbeck proposal, will start with a data review regarding the possible PCE vapor source, and if the data review finds the presence of a potential vapor source beneath or adjacent to the buildings, then soil vapor sampling will be performed inside and beneath the buildings. If the data indicates that a source is unlikely to be present, then sampling would take place outside or adjacent to the buildings. In either case, there will be indoor and outdoor air sampling performed.
Those tests, Cupp said, would be “out of an abundance of caution” to make sure there are no risks to county staff or the general public. Right now, Cupp said she does not know if those county buildings are impacted.
“I’d like to recommend that we move forward with some form of testing at those facilities, and from there, we’ll receive results and know what to do moving forward,” Cupp said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, exposure to PCE can be harmful to the nervous system, liver, kidneys and reproductive system, and people may be at a higher risk of getting certain types of cancer. People exposed to it for short time periods may cause dizziness and headaches, while those exposed to it for longer time periods may experience changes in mood, memory, attention, reaction time, or vision. The Environmental Protection Agency considers PCE “likely to be carcinogenic to humans by all routes of exposure” based on suggestive evidence in human studies.
Cupp said in an interview following the meeting that she has reached out to village officials in Centreville to let them know what’s going on and what the county is intending on considering. If there are high levels of PCE found through the tests, Cupp said there would be some mitigation strategies employed by the county to keep people safe.
Out of the two bids that were considered by the county, one from Fishbeck and the other from Keck, who performed the recent testing at the other two sites, commissioners agreed that Fishbeck, while the more expensive bid, had the most thorough plan for testing. Cupp said only the jail and Animal Control would be tested under this bid by recommendation of Fishbeck, and depending on what is found, they could either be done or further testing could be required.
“I think it all depends on, if there is a plume, how that plume moves, where it seeped into the soil at if it did seep into the soil, and if there was that vapor intrusion from that soil,” Cupp said.
First District Commissioner Jared Hoffmaster said the testing would be important for the county to do.
“From a liability standpoint, we’re going to need to know this,” Hoffmaster said.
Fourth District Commissioner Luis Rosado agreed, saying that it wasn’t just a matter of “if we have it, we have it.”
“We have employees and people who’ve been in and around this building, some for years and some for days, who may be exposed to this. So, I think we need to be assured 100 percent whether its there or not,” Rosado said.
Cupp said she will see if Fishbeck will be able to attend the July 15 County Commission meeting to answer any questions. The meeting begins at 5 p.m. If the bid is approved, Cupp said testing would get started within the next couple of days after the meeting.
In other business…
- Commissioners heard presentations from the St. Joseph County EDGE economic development board about their activities, from April Goodwin about the Michigan Tri-Share childcare cost-sharing program, and from Steve Wolf introducing a St. Joseph County ambulance consortium proposal.
- Commissioners added to their next meeting agenda approval of amended bylaws for the Commission on Aging board, remonumentation contracts, a letter of support for Beacon Health receiving a grant to renovate the PAWS Clinic in Three Rivers, and appointments of a new deputy medical examiner and reappointments to the Commission on Aging Board.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
