Life Safety Meeting

July 13, 2005

The Life Safety Committee meeting of the Village of Worth was called to order at 7:00pm.

Roll call:

Present - Gene Meyers, Adele Benck, Mike McElroy, Sue Murawski, Sue Villalovos (Cascio),

Becky Alcala

Absent – Jeanette Fefles

Approve minutes of June 8^th, 2005

Report from Gene Meyers:

Gene Meyers explained our concerns and the need to accumulate information and keep the public aware and informed. Gene introduced Russ Martin, who is an EPA employee, but attends our meetings as a concerned Worth resident. Mr. Martin spoke about contacting the district commander of the Army Corps of Engineers and a copy to Region#5. Mr. Martin also said that we “are doing exactly what we should be doing.”

Questions from the Audience:

Several citizens questioned when and why the dredging will occur. They were also concerned about the levels of pollution in the water and the sediment. Mike McElroy explained that the reason for the dredging is to make the canal deep enough and wide enough for barge traffic, but he thinks that there are other areas where this type of CDF could be located away from residential areas.

One citizen suggested that we enlist the help of Green Peace, but it was suggested that our cause was too small.

Another citizen offered to set up a website for the committee, but the website for this committee must be on the Village website as it is a governmental committee.

Mike suggested that the ACE do core samples rather than bucket samples because the bucket samples only scrape the surface and since they need to dredge down 9 feet, the bucket samples do not provide sufficient analyses of the sediment. The concern here is that the deeper dredgings will contain contaminants from things that were dumped before the Clean Water Act.

A citizen was concerned about the current clay liner in the Lucas Berg Pit. Gene Meyers and Adele explained that the old clay liner is already decaying. Adele suggested that we make them follow the California environmental standards because they are higher than other states. Adele said that there are more wells involved here than we originally thought and this project could affect these wells. A citizen suggested that we enlist the aid of College students from Tulane, Loyola and UIC.

Another citizen brought up the subject of who owns the Lucas Berg Pit, who leases it?

It was suggested that we ask for the services of the Village Attorney, the Village Engineer and the Director of Public Works.

Russ Martin said that the ACE will conduct an Environmental Impact Study before the public hearings. We need to have Plan A, Plan B and Plan C ready to go before these hearings.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:30 pm.