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HomeMy WebLinkAbout*Other - BOCCTo: City Manager Allison Williams From: Police Chief Kevin Fuhr Date: August 1, 2022 Reference: Jail Issues Between 2015 and 2019 the City of Moses Lake witnessed crime rates decrease nearly 50%. Officers reported a clearance rate of over 40%, which is well above the state average. We booked an average of over 25 criminals a week, helping to keep our community safe and our citizens from being .victimized. When the COVID pandemic started in 2020, jails were forced to restrict bookings due to the virus. It also created a workforce issue that led to less people available for critical jobs. Grant County experienced these same issues, including COVID outbreaks in the jail and staff leaving the profession due to stress and other factors. On top of the restrictions at the Jail, the sheriff s office made the decision to shutter the Grant County Work Release facility due to staffing shortages. That facility houses roughly 70 additional prisoners. Over the past two years, we have experienced a large increase in crime throughout Moses Lake. In 2020 we saw a 12% and another 16% increase in 2021. What we have found over the past two years is that many of our crimes are committed by repeat'offenders, and with the current jail restrictions and the closure of the work release facility, rarely are officers able to book criminals into jail. We are experiencing a problem of criminals knowing that they will not be booked for committing crime and being somewhat brazen when contacted by officers. We went from an average of 25 bookings per week to roughly 5 per week. Additionally, we have found that there are hundreds of people within Moses Lake that have active warrants, who when contacted, are prohibited from being booked due to jail restrictions. My suggestion would be to support the Grant County Sheriffs Office proposal to increase correction deputy wages so that they can hire the workforce needed to staff the jail and work release facility. We need to return to pre-COVID booking requirements and available bed space within the two facilities so that we can hold our criminals accountable for their actions. It is only through these means that we will see a drop in our crime rate and fewer contacts with repeat offenders. Professionalism, Integrity, Compassion & Service Introduction The purpose of this document is to help clarify reuse and redevelopment considerations and responsibilities related to the Moses Lake Wellfield Contamination Superfund Site in Moses Lake, Washington. It provides answers to frequent redevelopment questions related to the Site for local government staff, property owners, businesses, elected officials and local communities. The Moses Lake Wellfield Contamination Superfund Site is located within and beyond the northwestern region of the City of Moses Lake, Grant County, Washington, It covers about 15 square miles. The Site includes Grant County International Airport and the surrounding area (formerly Larson Air Force Base), Port of Moses Lake, commercial facilities and residences. Three local governments — the City of Moses Lake, Grant County and the Port of Moses Lake — have jurisdictional authority over portions of the Superfund Site. The Port of Moses Lake property adjacent to the airport is located in ' the county's Industrial Light and industrial Heavy zoning districts. Business operations at the Site center on industrial manufacturing, particularly at the Port and the properties around Grant County International Airport. The airport, a rail line, and nearby roadways and inexpensive utilities facilitate these operations, along with an arid climate, flat land, and lower cost of living. The Site is in a federal Opportunity Zone. Opportunity Zones are census tracts containing economically distressed communities designated by state governors and certified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Redevelopment investments that meet appropriate qualifying criteria may be eligible for Opportunity Zone tax benefits. Groundwater at the Site is contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE). Potential sources of this contamination are scattered across the Site. In total, about 1,000 acres of groundwater in multiple plumes are contaminated (Figure 1). The contamination is the result of operations at the former Larson Air Force Base and activities associated with the aircraft industry. Residents in Moses Lake get their drinking water from the City's municipal system, community systems and private wells. Several areas at the former Larson Air Force Base and around Grant County International Airport were used as dumps and landfills. Figure 1 shows these Soil Cleanup Areas in green. Toxic metals, including arsenic, lead and mercury and other contaminants such as gasoline, diesel, oil, polychlorinated' biphenyls (PCBs), asbestos and TCE waste may have been disposed of at these locations. These dumps and landfills are the likely sources of the groundwater contamination. What ' the cleanup status of the Site? EPA isleading efforts to protect human health and the environment b«putting cleanup remedies inplace and continuing ongoing site investigations. The table below lists EPA's selected interim remedy actions. The Site's Interim Record of Decision describes these actions in more detail. EPA .Interim Remedy Actions Soll Interim Remedy Actions —Groundwater Conduct surface and subsurface investigations to Treat contaminated ground determine if soil areas are contributing to, Regularly monitor groundwa ter conditions. groundwater contamination or could harm Provide alternative drinkingwater sources when people's health. Remove, an.d,dispose of.contaminated soil. Prevent contaminated water from being used as a Put protecti'on.sJn. place to prevent disturbance of drinking water source.. or access to contaminated soil areas. Put protections in place to prevent contaminated groundwater, plumes from being disturbed. � Providing drinking water to affected residents. • Installing drinking water wells into uncontaminated aquifers. • Regularly sampling sitew|de-groundwater conditions. w Removing and disposing ofcontaminated soil. • Installing and maintaining treatment systems in effected residences. • Building and operating e groundwater treatment plant to remove TCE from the South Plume. • Evaluating four soil contamination areas and completing cleanup work at two of them. Cleanup planning and more investigations are ongoing for the remaining contaminated groundwater plumes and soil sites After these investigations, EPA will select the final cleanup remedies. EPA will publish them inthe Site's final Record ofDecision and implement them, What are the current land and groundwater use restrictions at the Site? EPA often uses legal and administrative tools, - called institutional controls, at Superfundsites tominimize the potential for human exposure to contamination end/or to protect the integrity of the remedies. Institutional controls reduce exposure to contamination by restricting land and resource use and guiding human behavior. For examp|e, well installation restrictions ensure that new orexpanded drinking water systems and private wells do not inadvertently deliver TCE-contaminated groundwater to people or increase the size and depth of ' the existing groundwater plumes. To date EPA has put these institutional controls in place at the Site: m Environmental covenants for select parcels of land toensure land use isconsistent with selected cleanup levels. For example, cleanup levels at the Site are generally for industrial land use, soplacing aresidential EPA will coordinate with the City, County, Port, State, and property owners onappropriate institutional controls that are clearly written, enforceable and recorded with local governments. What do parties need to consider when redeveloping a Superfund site? Interested developers and property owners should coordinate with EPA and local authorities prior to submitting development permit applications. Doing so helps ensure that Site reuses do not damage She remedies or lead to people's exposure to hazardous waste or the spread of contamination. Redevelopment planning includes plans for any construction activities as well as utility and well installation. EPA may suggest that parties develop plans that cover soil management practices and well installation criteria as well as health and safety needs and requirements. EPA also encourages potential purchasers and developers of Superfund sites to conduct due diligence and follow the bona fide prospective purchaser (BFPP) process to avoid incurring environmental liability.' What's needed to qualify for environmental liability p Prospective purchasers and local government entities involved in the acquisition and redevelopment of Superfund sites should understand available liability protections and the steps for managing environmental liability issues. BFPPstatus |sthe most common Superfundliability protection for prospective purchasers and lessees. To qualify as a BFPP under CERCLA (the Superfund law), a landowner must meet certain threshold criteria, including performing "all appropriate inquiries" before purchasing.the property, and demonstrating "no affiliation" with a liable party. To maintain 8FPP liability protection statu� the purchaser must also satisfy continuing long-term stewardship obligations after purchasing the property. These criteria are discussed in EPA's Common Elements guidance . For more information on BFPP liability protections,, please visit: Please contact the EPA staff below to discuss these resources and learn about other Superfund Redevelopment tools. Contact I Bradley K4artin,Remedial Project Wanager.,EPA Region 10 Phone: 206-553-4029 Find more information onthe cleanup ofthe Moses Lake Wellfield Superfund site, please visit: ,https:ZZwww.epa.gov superfund/moses-lake- welffield zThe 2002 Brownfield Amendments to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CEnCLA, also known as SuFerfund)and the 2018 Brownfields, Utilization, Investments and Local Development (BU|LD) Act provide important protections to prospective purchasers and lessees who meet certain statutory criteria and comply with ongoing obligations at a property. The BUILD Act expanded and codified existing EPA guidance on opPp UauUm/ protection for tenants of federal superfund sites (csncLA Section 101(40) and Section 107(r)(1)). The BUILD Act also amended CERCLA Section 101(20)(D) liability protection for state and local government acquisitions of contaminated property. It added a new category of exempt acquisitions and removed the requirement that title tosuch property must beacquired "involuntarily". Figure 2: IROD TCE Plumes, 2008 Source.- From Figure 19 20®8 IROD.