SYLACAUGA — Mayor Sam Wright lugs up an overstuffed file folder full of papers and notes from his desk drawer before sitting down to talk about the latest news involving the smell coming from the REEF Environmental plant.

It is full of notes he has made and documents he has saved since shortly after the city’s residents started complaining about REEF. Many of his notes are his own observations he has recorded.

Wright said, “I usually have about eight or nine miles I’ll drive every time I go over there. I will pretty much have hit everything from Five Points to Lake Louise to Walco and Twin Street and Millhaven, Seminole and those areas.

“I’ll also make sure it’s not uptown and maybe I missed something, so I’ll go uptown. I’m the best customer McDonald’s has at 4 in the morning.”

He has not had to travel far to find the smell in the past few weeks.

“It’s more far reaching, and at the same time, I think it’s affected more people by being more far reaching. I’d say 80 to 90 percent of people in Sylacauga have been in the wind path of the odor pretty much all the time,” Wright said.

Glenn Brown, the REEF Environmental plant manager, said he is very aware the smell has returned out in the community recently. He said the reason is the plastic liner that covers the basin where the wastewater brought to the facility to be treated has torn.

“The (REEF) owners are in contact with the people who made the liner to see if they will come repair or replace it,” Brown said.

Brown said that effort has been slow, though, because a disagreement between REEF and the liner manufacturer about which party should pay for the repair or replacement costs. Brown said lawyers for both sides and the insurance company are involved in the dispute which has complicated reaching a resolution.

“That’s where we are right now. We’re trying to get it replaced, but there is a substantial cost to get it done. We’re looking at what we can do,” Brown said.

The liner is basically a thick sheet of plastic, according to Brown, with seems that are heat welded together. “It is pulled tight to get the tension needed to hold it in place, or it will droop down,” Brown said.

He estimated it weighs around 800 pounds.

Brown said REEF believes this plastic material was at least somewhat defective but that is still to be determined. Along with the plastic, the company uses a wet scrubber to help neutralize the smell.

“They can’t go back and weld the seem in place. They can take it off and take it over to a nearby field and reseem it, or they can put a new cover right on top of the of old one, but it’s all very expensive so that’s why there’s the big argument,” Brown said.

Wright said he shares in his constituents’ disappointment that the smell has returned after it appeared the situation had dramatically improved over the summer after the initial uproar in the late winter and early spring of this year.

“It looked during the summer that they had kind of gotten their act together, not 100 percent, but 99 percent better than what it was, up until the first of September. It would appear the odor is as noxious but it’s more widespread,” Wright said. “The complaints we’ve gotten seem to cover a larger area.”

Wright said REEF moved into the area after buying the old Avondale Mills wastewater treatment facility and around 80 acres of property when Avondale closed. The city had no contact with REEF since it was outside the city limits.

In mid March of 2009, the foul odor became a big problem when a large number of people began to complain the smell was becoming a major nuisance, and some residents said it was making them physically ill.

Because the city did not have jurisdiction over REEF, it filed a complaint in circuit court asking REEF to stop whatever process was causing the odor. A group of local citizens filed suit against the company in circuit court around the same time.

Wright said many citizens have expressed concern that the Anniston Army Depot has transported water to REEF to be treated. Wright said officials from Veolia Environmental Services had met with him on Oct. 15, 2008, to discuss the possibility of Veolia transporting nonhazardous waste from the Depot to REEF.

He also found out through a follow up letter Veolia sent to him a few months later that the Alabama Department of Environmental Management had held a public hearing about REEF on Sept. 19, 2008, of which the city was never made aware.

Wright said, to his knowledge, the project never materialized, and no wastewater has ever been transported to REEF from the Depot.

Another misconception Wright has heard is the REEF wastewater is being released into Sylacauga’s drinking water. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” Wright said.

The Sylacauga Utilities Board, which is a separate entity from the city’s municipal government, does accept REEF’s water discharge.

“We have the lock on the valve. They’ll call us. We’ll go over and test it. It has to meet our standards until we accept it in our treatment plant,” Wright said.

The city has gotten numerous phone calls about the odor, and Wright said the vast majority of people have expressed their frustration but have been polite and understanding of the city’s position, and only one or two calls have gotten unpleasant.

“When I get phone calls, I’ll pretty much call REEF and tell them what I’m hearing. I’ll stay on them constantly. You can ask their people if I’ve been pretty diligent about responding,” Wright said.

Wright has appealed for help from several sources including the State Health Department; ADEM, who has sent someone to monitor the air for hazardous substances; and state Rep. Ron Johnson, whom Wright said has been extremely helpful in trying to solve this problem.

“We’ve done all we’ve been told we can do,” Wright said. “Because it’s gotten so much worse, and apparently they are not in any great hurry to fix the problem, I have written to both ADEM and to REEF Environmental this past Friday and asked them to close down (the REEF) operation until such time as they feel they can make the repairs necessary to eliminate this odor.”

Wright hopes to have a face-to-face meeting with REEF administrators next week to get an update about what is going on. He believes this is an issue that is affecting the citizens of Sylacauga’s quality of life.

“I noticed Sunday there was a group of people having a picnic in Noble Park, and the smell was right there on Highway 21. I’ve had a lady who lives in Five Points and she said it’s got to the point where she can’t enjoy going outside,” Wright said.