MANSFIELD — Local lawmakers delayed a vote Tuesday on the city’s participation in a class action settlement against two of the companies whose products allegedly contaminated the soil near Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport.
The unanimous decision to delay the vote until Sept. 17 came after council members posed questions Law Director Rollie Harper was unable to answer at the meeting.
The class action lawsuit settlement is part of a proposed agreement in the U.S. District Court of South Carolina between active public water systems and the two companies — Tyco Fire Products LP and BASF Corporation.
Published reports indicate the companies have agreed to pay a combined $1 billion to participating public water systems around the country who are participating in the class-action lawsuit.
The legislation scheduled for a vote in City Council Tuesday didn’t include a dollar amount the city would receive from its portion of the class-action settlement regarding the use of aqueous film-forming foams that lead to possible contamination at the airport.
The issue is related primarily to “forever chemicals” in foam used in firefighting operations at the airport when the local Ohio Air National Guard unit had a flying mission.
The 179th Airlift Wing flew planes for seven decades, an aerial mission that ended in 2022. The unit has transitioned into the Air National Guard’s first Cyberspace Wing.
The complaint alleges products manufactured by the companies contained PFAS, including perfluorooctanoic acid (“PFOA”) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (“PFOS”).
These “forever chemicals” were discovered in the groundwater, surface water and soil at the airport.
According to the city’s initial complaint filed in January 2023, the products were “defective in design and unreasonably dangerous” because they “render drinking water unfit for consumption, pose significant threats to public health and create real and potential damage to the environment.”
Council voted in 2023 to have the city represented by outside legal counsel in the lawsuit, including the Louisiana law firm of Cossich, Sumich, Parsiola & Taylor. No members of the outside counsel legal team participated in the council meeting Tuesday.
The lawsuit is being handled on a contingency basis, which means the outside law firms don’t get paid unless the city wins its lawsuit or achieves a settlement.
At-large Councilwoman Stephanie Zader complained about the bill coming in after the deadline for legislation to be submitted, also asking for more information on the agreement.
She said she didn’t think it was appropriate to pass the bill after only one reading on a topic that had been discussed in public meetings and in executive sessions for more than a year.
Harper said, “All I know is we received the information fairly recently that this foaming case had reached this kind of settlement. Since we were affected by it, we should be a part of the settlement.”
Council President Phil Scott asked the law director if there was greater detail available in the settlement.
“Not that I’ve seen as of yet,” Harper said. “We received the notice, but not the explanation. So when we do, we’ll inform (council).”
At-large Councilman David Falquette asked if there was a deadline under which the city must vote to accept the settlement agreement.
Harper said, “I don’t have that information with me, but I can provide it to council.”
Sixth Ward Councilwoman Deborah Mount echoed the deadline timeline questions and also asked for more information on the settlement details.
Harper said, “It hasn’t been disclosed, but we can get in touch with them and try to rush that process, I guess.”
Second Ward Councilwoman Cheryl Meier also asked about a timeline and if the settlement amount had been disclosed. Harper said it had not.
Scott said, “I don’t know if it’s proper for me to ask this question or not. But is that maybe something that we might want to know before we pass this piece of legislation?”
Zader had heard enough and made a motion to delay the vote until Sept. 17.
Lawmakers could convene in special session if the law director learns a decision on participating in the settlement offer must be made sooner.
“This is one of the reasons why we don’t generally put things into one read. Especially something like this, you know there’s going to be questions about it,” Zader said.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations in executive (session) and things about this, but we haven’t had a lot of public conversation about this because it was pending litigation.
“So now to pass this and accept something that we really haven’t had a whole lot of transparency with the public about in one meeting, with a lot of questions here on the floor not being answered.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate and with that, I’ll put a motion on the floor to delay or postpone voting on this bill until the next meeting,” Zader said.
Council’s vote to delay the vote was unanimous.
In other action Tuesday, City Council:
— heard a report from Safety Service Director Keith Porch on the effectiveness of speed bumps and an “anti-cruising” ordinance on speeding and other issues on the “Miracle Mile” portion of Park Avenue West.
— delayed a vote to update the city’s codified ordinances until questions surrounding one section of the bill could be resolved.
— heard from Harper that the city has taken legal action against Page Excavating of Lucas, which performed the original demolition of the former Mansfield YMCA on Park Avenue West. The demolition was done in late 2018 and early 2019 using the city’s PRIDE funds.
“When (another company) started digging it up, they discovered much more. There was a notion that parts of the pool were still there,” Mayor Jodie Perry previously told City Council.
A breach-of-contract complaint was filed against the company in April and Harper said the company and its owners, Jeff and Landa Page, were successfully served on July 24. The company has retained counsel, he added, but said he is hopeful for a settlement.
The city is looking to recoup some of its money after initially paying $500,000. The city paid another $600,000 earlier this year to have the ground dug up again and made possible for redevelopment.
Harper’s office retained outside counsel to pursue the litigation against Page.
— appointed Ruth Barretta to the police review commission.
— accepted a state grant for $31,465 for vehicle extrication equipment for the fire department.
— accepted a $7,500 donation from the Richland Veteran Mentor Program Inc. to promote and benefit the Mansfield Municipal Court Veterans specialty docket.
— accepted a $385 donation from Mount, as well as $35 donations from Donald Nunley and Herscine Adkison, to purchase Neighborhood Watch signs.
— authorized entering into a contract for the disposal of water sludge from the water treatment plant.
