Dartmouth searches 'Vault' for Bliss Corner toxic waste records

March 05-- Mar. 5--DARTMOUTH -- Town Hall employees in Dartmouth are searching a disorganized room called the "Vault" for records that could illuminate the origin of toxic waste found buried in the Bliss Corner neighborhood.

The haphazard nature of the Vault has made finding documents requested by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection difficult, according to the town's lawyer, Anthony Savastano.

DEP launched an investigation after oily waste was found buried on a house lot at 85 McCabe St. last year. The investigation intensified in December when polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were found at 20 Kraseman St. To date, tests have shown pollution on four lots.

Under pressure to meet DEP deadlines for documentation, town employees are meeting weekly to compare notes. They are searching other offices as well as the Vault.

"It is all hands on deck here," Town Administrator Shawn MacInnes said in an interview Monday. "We want to work with DEP to make sure that the area's safe."

The state's request calls for complete historical documentation -- photographs, surveys, news documents, microfiche, plans, maps, field notes, correspondence and more -- pertaining to historical dumping in the vicinity of six streets: McCabe, Kraseman, Sharp, Grant, Lincoln and East Wordell.

The condition of the Vault has been a problem, Savastano wrote in a letter to DEP asking for a 90-day extension of the original Feb. 22 deadline for documents. When Town Hall moved in the 1980s, many files were packed in boxes and stored in the Vault in no particular order. The Vault is a large room in the current Town Hall.

"Since that move, many more files have been moved to the Vault and stored in a haphazard manner," he wrote to DEP. People have repeatedly referred to the Vault as a "mess," a "hodgepodge" and a "storage heap," according to Savastano.

Town department heads are reviewing minutes of meetings back to 1910, many of which are handwritten, he said in the letter.

How can you protect your family and pets? Can you get your soil tested? Can you plant flowers this spring? Here's what you need to know if you live in the #BlissCorner area. #Dartmouth #toxic #waste @southcoasttoday https://t.co/6djMnBLQts

-- Jennette Barnes (@jbarnesnews) March 4, 2019

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Savastano listed other hurdles as well: Different departments use different naming systems for the same property, such as map and lot number versus address. Old records sometimes have only the owner's name and street name. In addition, the numbering system for maps and lots has changed at least twice since around 1964, so modern numbers do not correspond to historical ones.

Plus, the town has experienced a lot of employee turnover recently, resulting in the loss of institutional knowledge, he said. Department heads charged with producing the documents are still getting up to speed on the town.

But the Vault won't be impenetrable forever, the town administrator said. The town recently awarded a contract to get those documents indexed, just as it did previously for non-Vault documents, he said.

As for Bliss Corner, MacInnes said no red flags have been uncovered so far.

"We have a grasp on it, but it's a lot of work," he said. "We take this issue very seriously. The whole town does, all departments."

DEP agreed to the 90-day extension for some items, and gave 30- and 60-day extensions for others.

Shawn McDonald, chairman of the Select Board, said it was a positive sign that private wells have tested clean.

"I can tell you that the town is cooperating as much as possible, over and above, so we can make sure whatever information we can find and provide is accurate," he said.

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