GREENFIELD — Officials expressed frustration Monday over procedural delays and complications while reviewing the results of the most recent groundwater testing in the area surrounding the former Lunt Silversmiths site that “strongly confirm” the contaminants are spreading.

The city is working with licensed site professional (LSP) Lyons Witten to study the site, while the Lunt Neighborhood Action Group hired its own LSP, Dan Felten. Witten, in a public presentation Monday, provided an overview of the most recent groundwater testing that was conducted in November, and noted that the contamination, namely of trichloroethylene (TCE), is flowing from the area of Kenwood Street toward Norwood Street.

“Groundwater is flowing from Norwood Street down toward Kenwood Street, and if groundwater is flowing that way, then contaminants are likely also flowing that way,” Witten said. “The laboratory results that are shown on this big plan strongly confirm that the contaminants are moving, at least the shallow contaminants in the shallow groundwater are moving, to the south and southwest.”

TCE is a synthetic solvent that can cause adverse health effects including cancer, developmental and neurological effects, and liver toxicity, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Witten also noted that while indoor air quality testing on four Forest Avenue houses did not show any signs of TCE contamination in the air, other “chlorinated compounds” were detected.

The city leases the 298 Federal St. property to 401 Liberty St., a limited liability company that in turn has active subleases with Behavioral Health Network and Clinical & Support Options, and has an agreement that gives the company the option to purchase.

The city took the property for back taxes not long before 2015. Until 2009, when the business closed, the site was home to a manufacturer of sterling silver spoons, forks, cups and other items. The status of the site’s environmental cleanup was first raised in October 2021 when the property was brought before City Council to declare it as surplus and authorize a sale by the mayor.

The LSP O’Reilly, Talbot & Okun Associates Inc. (OTO), which was initially jointly hired by the city and the tenant but is now only working for the tenant, provided a notice of delay for a Revised Phase II Comprehensive Site Assessment in March, requesting an extension to complete the draft document in accordance with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Lunt Neighborhood Action Group President Glen Ayers, speaking about the ongoing cleanup process, voiced his frustrations with 401 Liberty St. LLC, explaining that the tenant has been hard to reach and has not notified the group of its site visits and reporting progress to MassDEP.

“The city is the owner ... and [MassDEP’s] notice of non-compliance was issued to the city. It is the city’s responsibility to respond to the audit,” Ayers said. “For whatever reason, OTO is listed as the LSP of record, which is supposed to be responsible and they’re not. … We’re waiting on somebody who has no responsibility to do a job that we’re supposed to legally be conducting.”

In response to Ayer’s concerns, Mayor Ginny Desorgher noted she has been in touch with the city’s attorney, Gordon Quinn, as well as MassDEP to resolve the issue and ensure the community action group’s LSP has access to the site.

“We have also met with the DEP on this since I’ve been in office to sort out this very problem,” Desorgher said. “I made every effort, spoke with our attorney, spent time on this with our attorney, to make sure that Mr. Felton could get in to see the site. We certainly are trying to get this done and it is complicated because there is a lease agreement, but it certainly is not as if this has been ignored.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.