The Derby Board of Aldermen voted unanimously March 11 to give the mayor permission to sign a “tolling” agreement with the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
The document simply gives the two sides more time to negotiate over a bill the city owes the federal government.
The EPA is trying to collect on a bill the city incurred in 2009, after the EPA dug up and hauled out PCB-contaminated soil from O’Sullivan’s Island, a small meadow and public park where the Housatonic and Naugatuck rivers meet in downtown Derby.
The EPA was originally looking to collect roughly $4 million in reimbursement for the job, the price of which skyrocketed from the original estimate of about $300,000 due to the large amounts of contaminated soil and drums discovered in the ground.
In 2010, the EPA threatened to file a federal civil lawsuit against Derby for lack of payment, but the information was never shared with the public or the Aldermen, despite monthly corporation counsel reports from the city’s attorney:
EPA to Derby by ValleyIndyDotOrg
The Valley Indy first reported on the issue in January 2014, after Mayor Anita Dugatto took office.
A copy of the original “tolling” agreement — signed by former Derby Corporation Counsel Joseph Coppola in April 2012, is posted below. It has been extended six times, but March 11 was the first time Derby Aldermen voted on the matter in public.
OSullivan_tollingagreement by ValleyIndyDotOrg
From 2012 on, the City of Derby, under former Mayor Anthony Staffieri, paid a law firm $60,000 to negotiate with the EPA on behalf of Derby. That information was also kept from the public and the Board of Aldermen.
The latest agreement with the EPA gives the two sides until May 16, 2014 to work out a deal:
Derby 3 13 Tolling Agreement by ValleyIndyDotOrg
“They are suspending any action on their part to go forward with any claim,” Derby corporation counsel Kevin Blake said March 11. “(There is) no settlement. No one has waived any rights to do anything.”
Meanwhile, O’Sullivan’s Island has been closed since January due to possible contamination still in the ground.
