Earle water chief argues for job

Call for his licenses over falsified forms ‘unjust,’ he says

The operator of the Earle water system on Monday asked for a hearing on the state Department of Health’s finding that he submitted false information on testing for lead and copper in the city’s water.

A state Department of Health official asked Danny Clark in a letter on Wednesday to surrender his licenses to treat and distribute water after an inquiry found that residents’ signatures had been falsified on documents related to sampling that was supposed to have occurred in September.

Jeff Stone, director of the department’s engineering section, said in the letter that Clark could reapply for the licenses after two years.

“I understand that I have made a serious error in judgment,” Clark responded in a letter to Stone on Monday.

But he said the loss of his licenses would be “unjust” because he hadn’t previously been cited for any violations during his 43 years as a water operator.

Clark said that in addition to his post at Earle Waterworks, he is also the operator for the Northern Ohio Water Association and the Parkin Rural Water Association and that he helps the Crawfordsville Waterworks operator with “most of the day to day operations” of that system.

A date for the hearing

before the Board of Health’s Drinking Water Advisory and Operator Licensing Committee hadn’t been set as of Monday, Health Department spokesman Meg Mirivel said.

According to the department’s website, water systems are required to collect samples from residents’ homes to be tested for lead and copper that could be found in the water because of corrosion in pipes.

During an investigation by the city, seven residents signed notarized statements indicating that their signatures had been falsified on forms submitted to the Health Department in connection with samples that were supposed to have been collected from the residents’ homes.

After concerns about the testing were raised, Earle Mayor Sherman Smith Sr. supervised the collection of new samples in May, Mirivel said in an email.

Tests of those samples found that “lead and copper levels are good and below levels of concern” established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, she said.

Stone said in the letter Wednesday that he would ask the Drinking Water Advisory and Operator Licensing Committee to revoke Clark’s treatment and distribution licenses unless Clark surrendered them within 15 days.

He sent the letter the same day the Health Department issued a boil order for Earle water system customers after two samples from the system were found to contain bacteria.

That order was lifted Friday after subsequent tests showed the water was free from contamination.

Health Department officials said the earlier positive tests could have resulted from contamination that occurred at the spigot where the samples were drawn.

Smith said Monday that Clark has to decide how to handle his licensing issues.

“I just want to assure people the water’s safe and it’s been tested,” Smith said. “No lead, no copper, no bacteria in the water. The water’s good.”