MICHIGAN CITY — The City Council is being asked to put its money where its mouth is on the lead poisoning issue facing the city. How much and for what have yet to be determined.
The council is being asked to decide between prevention and detection — whether to address exposure to lead paint or to test more children considered at risk of exposure.
The primary source of lead contamination is lead paint in Michigan City’s older housing stock, primarily rentals, said Michael Kuss, who leads both the Michigan City Sanitary District and the city’s lead committee. Lead pipes in the water supply were already ruled out.
Consultant Kent Gardner, of the Center for Governmental Research in Rochester, New York, is proposing a $29,500 study for Michigan City on how to address the lead poisoning of children.
The city pledged $150,000 over three years as part of its failed application for a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to address the issue. That would have been enough to remediate 10 homes up to HUD standards, Kuss said. Had the city received the $1.5 million grant, it would have covered 100 homes.
But Gardner said owners of rental homes in Buffalo, New York, often spent as little as $300 or $400 and brought the threat of lead poisoning way down. The old lead paint can be encapsulated with a new coat of paint.
In Buffalo, city leaders are addressing the lead poisoning issue with “a more robust inspection regime that targets peeling and flaking paint on exterior and interior surfaces, particularly in rental housing in low-income neighborhoods, and addresses other lead sources such as renovation and remodeling, uncovered soil and property demolition,” Gardner’s proposal for Michigan City stated.
Gardner, who spoke this month at the annual Michigan City Conference on the Environment, already has looked at Michigan City data.
“Reviewing reports issued by Indiana’s Lead & Healthy Homes Division and the latest Census figures, two things stand out: First, that nearly a third of your housing stock was built before 1939 and 75 percent before 1980. As you know, most of these contain at least some lead paint,” Gardner wrote. “And nearly half of Michigan City’s dwellings are rented, another risk factor for lead poisoning.”
Gardner proposes a review of state laws that might limit what Michigan City can do as well as talking with stakeholders to assess the situation and recommend a process for addressing the problem, including possible ordinances and action steps.
Robert Johnson, a member of the city’s lead committee, briefed City Council members and others recently on the lead problems facing the nation in general and Michigan City in particular.
“We put a lot of lead in our environment that a lot of countries didn’t,” he said.
After adverse health effects from lead were reported in 1895, France, Germany and Belgium banned lead paint in 1908, Johnson said. The United States, by contrast, began adding lead to gasoline in 1923. It wasn’t until the 1970s that leaded gas and lead in paint were eliminated in this country.
Lead is highly toxic to humans. Exposure may cause attention, behavioral, developmental and cognitive disorders.
“Addressing lead poisoning is a lot cheaper than handling it later,” Johnson said.
Track the consumption of leaded gas in the United States and pair it with violent crime rates, with a 20-year lag for children to grow up, and the curves on the graph correlate well, Johnson said.
Michigan City officials became aware of the lead poisoning issue when a Reuters report showed elevated lead blood levels by a census tract. Some areas in the city had high blood levels, like other industrialized cities in northern Indiana, Johnson said.
But testing rates are so low that it’s difficult to accurately measure the extent of the problem.
“You’re really supposed to test all kids who receive Medicaid,” Johnson said. “They’re considered to be at higher risk.”
When a child tests positive for lead poisoning, a follow-up blood test is recommended to confirm the result. The current standard is 5 micrograms per deciliter.
Getting parents to take children for a second test is difficult, though. Even getting the child to the initial test is a challenge.
“Consistent, systemic transportation issues” can be a difficult hurdle for parents.
The LaPorte County Health Department offers free testing, but parents have to take children there.
Head Start asked the county to test its children, but transportation was an issue.
Councilwoman Sharon Carnes said her colleagues should ask the County Council to put pressure on the health department to set up testing in the field to increase the testing rate.
“Testing is one thing, but you already know the danger is there,” Kuss said.
City Council members who attended last week’s briefing had a number of questions about what to do next.
“Where would money for the implementation come from?” council Vice President Pat Boy asked.
Without knowing what direction the city should head on this issue, it’s difficult to know the cost, council President Don Przybylinski said, who is a member of the lead committee.
“It can’t be corrected overnight,” he said.
One of the more costly ideas would be to relocate families, offering the initial month’s rent and security deposit that can be barriers for low-income families who might want to move affected children to a lead-safe home, Kuss said.
Carnes asked who would administer the program. Przybylinski said he wants to make sure that department has adequate staffing to make sure progress is made.
Kuss said the lead committee would want to see quarterly updates to make sure this is a proposal that results in action instead of gathering dust.
The council will address the proposal at a future meeting.