Former Wastewater Operator in Mount Vernon Indicted by Grand Jury, Due in Court next Wednesday

THE TEXT IS A STATEMENT FROM SAFETY SERVICE DIRECTOR TANNER SALYERS REGARDING THE FORMER WASTEWATER DIRECTOR IN MOUNT VERNON WILLIAM CORDLE FACING FELONY CHARGES

There was suspicion this was happening and the department did some internal investigating. They provided me with the information, we talked to legal counsel, the EPA and the union. He was terminated on August 6th. 
He worked here for about a decade.

He was falsifying the daily tests we conduct at the wastewater plant that measure ammonia, solids, PH levels, and daily composite samples. Our annual bio-essays were also not collected properly which could have affected our National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, which is the permit that allows us to operate our wastewater plant from the Ohio EPA. 

We cooperated with the EPA and communicated with monitoring the tests related to these reports and were able to avoid escalating the situation. The City’s prompt response went a long way in preserving our relationship and mitigating any sort of repercussions.
These records are critical for the health and wellbeing of our citizens. We take this seriously and we have a zero tolerance policy for anyone who would break these rules and violate the public trust.

When we found it was happening, we terminated the employee immediately, detectives with the MVPD collected the evidence and provided the report to the county prosecutor’s office and we let the law take it from there.

This does not affect our drinking water in any way. The fictitious reports have been rectified and  levels are normal.
This was an instance of malfeasance on the part of an individual employee. We found it and we acted immediately.

Cordle is set to be arraigned on October 16th in Knox County Common Pleas Court

PHOTO FROM KNOX COUNTY COMMON PLEAS COURT WEBSITE