PHOTO BY JESSE DAVIS / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
LINGERING QUESTIONS … Ohio EPA Northwest District Office Chief Community Officer Archie Lunsey II answered questions from the Delta Village Council and local residents regarding lead exposure concerns following the demolition of buildings at the Bunting Bearings property during the council’s most recent meeting.
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
Lead exposure issues related to demolition at the Bunting Bearings property again topped conversation at the most recent meeting of the Delta Village Council.
Ohio EPA Northwest District Office Chief Community Officer Archie Lunsey II appeared at the meeting to answer questions from the council and the public regarding current and future steps being taken in the aftermath of the exposure event.
Lunsey began by reporting that the latest set of air sampling results from the property show lead levels consistently below the US EPA acceptable risk level.
He said the next step is for Bunting Bearings and the Fulton County land bank, who control the property, to develop a plan to take samples in the community and a plan for communicating with the village and its residents.
“They need to solicit from you how to communicate, what types of communication you want, so that you have a way to be able to get your concerns addressed,” Lunsey said.
Chief among the concerns of attendees and council members alike was that the lead may have bound to the soil and, after the spring thaw when school sports start, have the potential to affect children using sports fields in the area near the demolition site.
According to Lunsey, the sampling plan will include both air and soil sampling.
Lunsey said if any contamination were to be discovered at the sports fields, the process would be similar to any other type of soil contamination, with the affected soil dug up, taken to a facility where it could be cleaned, and the removed soil replaced with new soil.
He said that when future demolition occurs, there will also be additional testing of disassembled equipment before it is transported from the site.
Another question raised was whether the contamination spread was due to a cut corner or whether it would have happened regardless.
“I’m not going to say it was a cut corner,” Lunsey said. “I think a little bit more care could have been taken in terms of, rather than assuming that particular building had no lead, the most appropriate way to deal with it was to assume it did.
So you either assume the worst case or you would go in and test for it, and I think that was the kind of shortfall.”
He said his understanding was that it was communicated that the building in question did not have lead operations.
“I think that may not be accurate in terms of the history of the facility. It’s been there for 80 years, so who’s to say that there weren’t manufacturing at some point that was discontinued or relocated,” Lunsey said.
Representatives from the Ohio Department of Health were also present to answer questions, but no one had any for them after receiving the information from Lunsey.
Due to a combination of the lead incident and other concerns, council members voted to table the final reading on a change order to the contract with Advanced Excavating and Demolition for the demolition work completed at the site.
The change order increases the cost for the work completed from the $78,000 the business said it would cost in their project bid to $237,000, a more than threefold increase.
Although Finance Director Joanne Clapp said Bunting Bearings and the land bank are responsible for the cost, the village is acting as a pass through for $250,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding.
Council members were concerned that approving the change would encourage other contractors to underbid projects with the intention of clawing back the actual cost through similar change orders, as well as exhausting the CDBG funds before the rest of the project is completed.
FINANCE COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
Council members voted to approve three recommendations from its finance committee.
The first item was the purchase of new phones to replace all of the village’s phones in all of its buildings due to their being outdated.
The new phones will allow users to record and log calls, have an auto-attendant when the person is not there, and include voicemail for all individual users.
Cost of the phones, to be purchased from BSB Communications, is a one-time payment of $3,295.98 and a monthly fee of $653.43, roughly $150 higher than the old monthly fee.
Clapp said the fee change would not be an issue as she over-budgeted for it in anticipation of increases.
The second item was the agreement to allow unused cemetery lots to be sold back to the village at their original sale cost of $25, with the village able to resell them at the current rate of $400 per lot.
The final item was an authorization for the Parks and Recreation, Cemetery, and Public Utilities Departments to hire a total of two additional seasonal personnel at a rate of $15.00 per hour.
The new personnel, once hired, will be employed from April 1 until September 30.
During their meeting immediately prior to the council meeting, finance committee members chose to defer discussion and decisions on whether to pass on to council several items.
Included was the purchase of a new woodchipper for use by the Street, Parks and Recreation, and Cemetery Departments, the creation of a $25,000 fund to use for repair of sidewalks to be fully funded by the village, issues related to electric aggregation, and whether or not to recommend to council a sewer rate increase in line with a recently completed rate study.
OTHER BUSINESS
Council members approved on final reading an amendment to the Community Reinvestment Area established in 1992 for the purpose of including the proposed Delta Acres development. Councilman Kyle Comers cast the sole dissenting vote.
They also discussed the staffing of a CRA housing council, which has been created but requires the mayor to name two members, council members to name two members, and the Planning Commission to name one member, with up to two additional members to be named by the housing council itself.
Council members approved on an emergency basis the village’s annual agreement with the Fulton County Emergency Management Agency to provide services mandated under state law.
They also voted to name Councilman Sean Griewahn as the village’s representative to the EMA, replacing Councilman Chad Johnson, who did not wish to continue as the representative in 2026.
Council members voted to table a second reading of a resolution establishing “pro-housing” policies as part of the requirements for a Residential Economic Development District Program grant for which the village already applied.
The required policy statement includes – among other positions – increasing total housing, preserving affordable housing, and reducing residential permitting timelines.
Council members approved on first reading transfers from the general fund of $1.1 million to the Fulton County water operating fund and $600,000 to the police fund. The transfers are being made for clarity in financial statements, to separate expenses for those purposes from the general fund. Both amounts were included in the 2026 village budget.
Council members approved on first reading an ordinance allowing the sale of a surplus 2009 Chrysler Town & Country minivan.
Council members voted to waive $426.50 in sewer and combined sewer overflow fees for a resident who had a water leak that did not empty into the village sewer system.
Council members voted to remove from the books as uncollectible $130.25 in fees for a property on Redbud Lane, which has already been sold to new owners.
Council members voted to approve a new term for Rick Mckibbin on the Planning Commission after he indicated he would like to continue to serve. His last term expired at the beginning of the year.
Frazer reported the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments has changed its name to the Lake Erie West Regional Council.
Frazer reported the Board of Zoning Appeals will hold a meeting on Thursday, February 19 at 6 p.m.
Police Chief Samuel Chappell reported the department, along with several other police departments as well as multiple fire departments and school districts, would be participating in a mock crash event at the Fulton County Fairgrounds before prom.
Chappell reported the Delta Police Department was named agency of the month in February by the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police’s Law Enforcement Foundation as part of the Sharing Ohio’s Best Program.
The program recognizes departments for having a high level of community engagement. Delta’s recognition included references to the Special Olympics torch run, Heroes vs. Heroes basketball tournament, reading to elementary school students, and the Safety Village program.
Chappell reminded residents that they are responsible for keeping sidewalks cleared of snow.
The council ended regular business by going into an executive session “to consider the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion, or compensation of a public employee or official. No action was expected as a result of the session.
The next regular meeting of the Delta Village Council will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 17, at 401 Main Street in Delta.