EAST LIVERPOOL — “Blindsided,” one East Liverpool councilman defined his emotions after learning about allegations that a former city wastewater superintendent was terminated after blowing the whistle on the city’s chronic wastewater violations.

Brian Kerr admitted that he didn’t learn about the latest lawsuit filed against the city until May 1 when he picked up the newspaper and learned Jeffery Cameron alleged that he had been fired for reporting his concerns regarding possible falsification of test results by a co-worker.

Cameron seeks restoration to his position, the expungement of his personnel file of all negative documents, and more than $25,000 for lost wages, emotional distress and other damages plus attorney fees, claiming retaliation of the Ohio Whistleblower Statute and wrongful termination.

In an email communication the day that the news of the lawsuit broke, Allen wrote all members of council, Council President John Torma, Mayor Ryan Stovall and Auditor Marilyn Bosco: “I wanted to give you all an update on the lawsuit on the front page of the paper today. The city has been expecting this for some time now, and Tokyo Marine, our insurance provider, has been handling the allegation for more than two months now.

“I have been advised by legal counsel to not share any particular details at this point; however, I can say that we plan to vigorously defend these allegations and our attorneys feel confident that we will prevail if this ever makes it to trial,” he continued. “From a financial exposure, the maximum the city will have to pay to defend ourselves is $2,000 as that is the deductible. Please keep in mind anyone can file a lawsuit about anything in today’s world, and the facts will come out in the end.”

However, when looking back, mercury in the wastewater is not a recent occurrence, according to the Ohio EPA

Back on January 30, 2012, Joseph E. Trocchio, environmental engineer for the Ohio EPA’s division of surface water, had notified city officials that their wastewater treatment plant had some elevated levels of mercury in the discharge and asked them to submit a report, evaluating the issue with their upcoming NPDES permit renewal application the following year. This continued for the past several years, as repeated communications from state environmental officials warned that if the city failed to comply, enforcement efforts will escalate.

The city had received repeated warnings regarding mercury levels in the wastewater; however, their levels even greater than what they acknowledged. In a letter to Todd Surrena, Cameron acknowledged seven violations found in June 2018, writing of the mercury: “We have always thought that 12 was our limit. We were then made aware that our limit is 12 at 3.1 MGD, lower at lower flow rates. We may have to look at a mercury variance.”

In fact, according to Surrena’s report, the plant was evaluated between March 2017 and April 2018, growing from a slight .0002 mercury level to a .00024 level. The limit is .0001, meaning the city showed at least three mercury violations.

In addition, the report included more than nine sample sites in inventory and compliance evaluation paperwork. Only three (Heritage Thermal Services, East Liverpool City Hospital and Mason Color Works) of them were noted to be in compliance and did not test for low level mercury, while the others contained no such information regarding compliance.

Allen did verify this week that Cameron was responsible for his own paperwork, incomplete or not.

Medical facilities, including the three dental offices that serve as city test sites, tend to have elevated mercury levels, Allen verified.

Kerr, who oversees the utilities’ committee of council and is seeking to unseat Ryan Stovall as mayor in November, denied any knowledge of the violations Monday night. As of May 7, it had been 67 days since the EPA penned the letter, which asked city officials to “provide a written explanation of how (they) will correct this violation.” City officials were given 30 days within receipt of the letter to contact them.

According to Anthony Chenault, media coordinator for the Ohio EPA, his agency originally issued a notice of violation on June 25 for exceeding total mercury discharge limits. The second NOV was issued March 1 as an attempt to followup on the city’s progress of resolving the issue. “The Ohio EPA received a response to the NOVs on March 28, 2019 from the city. While city officials indicated that they have put together a plan to resolve violations and are looking into hiring consultants and contractors, most of the violations remain unresolved, and the city has not provided a timetable for when the work will be completed,” Chenault said in a written statement, adding the agency is still awaiting response from the city on their latest inquiries from April and May.

On Monday night, Kerr referred to the Allen email as “alarming” and spoke of being “horrified about this.”

Kerr believes that city officials need to bring back the city’s Board of Public Utilities. “We broke the public trust, and Facebook didn’t help the situation,” he remarked, adding this is just one example of city officials’ unwillingness to include council on key issues. For example, he said that it has been one month since transportation bill has changed criteria of traffic cameras and council has received no updates.

However, when told of the proposed resurrection of the BPU, Allen said that the initial mercury problems occurred when the plant was under their watch; therefore, he remains unconvinced that the move had credibility. He accused of Kerr of using the issue as fodder for his mayoral run.

When reached Tuesday morning, Allen, who reiterates the first he had learned of a EPA violation was the March letter, said that he was absent from the meeting for personal reasons but would have attended if he knew any council member had concerns. “To date, zero council members have responded (to my email) with any questions or concerns. This tells me that it is again more campaign speech rather than wanting to know the facts,” he explained, adding that the administration continues to deny Cameron’s accusations.