By Jessica Mathews/news@whmi.com

An agreement has been approved for the continued monitoring and sampling of the Lucy Road landfill site in the City of Howell.

Back in 2012, the City achieved a no further action designation or NFA report from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, now known as EGLE. That agreement required a long term monitoring commitment for sampling and maintenance from the City and M.A. Hanna. At its last meeting, the Howell City Council approved a proposal with GHD Engineering of Plymouth to perform the work, which is said to have done an excellent job for the past three years.

Interim Howell City Manager Erv Suida says continued monitoring and testing for 30 years was part of the “no further action” plan the City received. He says the City and M.A. Hanna have to complete testing every year until 2037. At that point, Suida says the agreement would be re-evaluated to determine if additional monitoring would be required and if so, at what level. He says they’re seeing that the trends are pretty much stable and there are no influxes of pollutants. Suida says He says it looks like everything is good but the City must continue to monitor for the next 17 years so they still have a ways to go.

The proposal approved by Council covers the cost of monitoring and sampling for an amount not to exceed $27,800. The City shares the cost with M.A. Hanna, the company that was partially responsible for the contamination in that area. Suida clarified the City is only responsible for 40% of the cost, which amounts to $11,120. Funds are budgeted annually in the Lucy Road Park Recovery Fund. A staff memo notes that in 2016, both parties requested and evaluated proposal from four qualified firms to provide the required annual components, with GHD Engineering of Plymouth awarded the contract. The memo says both staff and M.A. Hanna agree GHD has done an excellent job meeting the requirements while maintain effective cost controls and they are very satisfied with their overall performance.