Frische Reveals Chilling Call With EPA, Warned To 'Back Off' Hex Chromium Inquiry

BY PATTY KLEIN

FINDLAY - Controversy continued at the September 2nd Findlay City Council meeting. During old business, Councilwoman Frische spoke about a couple of phone calls she received from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, including one from the EPA telling Frische to 'back off' the issue.

The first call was from an individual with the EPA who was following up on complaints from residents of Findlay who were concerned about the health and safety in the proposed $40M park area. 

Their concerns are related to a building on the property that  housed an old metal plating company. The building was demolished in 2021 and moved to the Hancock County Landfill. A local environmental engineer who was on the property during the building removal voiced concerns over the handling of the potentially toxic building structure. 

As a dedicated servant to our community, Mrs. Frische followed up on the concerns, receiving contracts related to the demolition project. Concerns about the downtown park area stem from previous testing that showed high levels of Hexavalent Chromium in the soil. This led to further excavation on the site revealing green liquid oozing from the bedrock.

 Frische was surprised to receive the phone call from the EPA. They contacted her because she was mentioned in some of the complaints filed with the state and federal EPA. The EPA representative described their investigation as serious. They were interested in the documents Frische possessed because it helped them fill in some gaps. 

On August 14, 2025  Frische received a second call from another representative at the EPA Columbus office.  They reached out to tell Frische that the project was handled properly and was told that “there was nothing to see here.” 

Mayor Muryn entered the discussion accusing Frische of spreading misinformation about the demolition project. Muryn said the calls proved that the city handled everything responsibly. Muryn also told the council that legislation will be coming to hire a Technical Assistant to the EPA. The EPA is now so invested in this project that they will be involved with inspecting and auditing the park project from beginning to end instead of just a final inspection. 

Frische defended the residents of Findlay as having honest concerns, rather than misinformation. Her interest is in providing facts to the community. 

In a separate discussion during new business, Frische brought attention to a video from the Fostoria Free Press, detailing concerns about water quality in Fostoria, Tiffin and Findlay. 

In an email to the Mayor, she asked if the city was aware of the issue. Muryn said she was not aware of a problem. Water testing by Environmental Working Group (EWG.org), that works to change industry standards for environmental safety, currently shows Hexavalent Chromium in Findlay water is 16 times EWG’s Health Guideline of .02 ppb. Findlay water tested at .316 ppb for the cancer causing substance. Hexavalent Chromium is not currently regulated by the EPA.Frische met with the city water department to better understand the EWG test results. 

Muryn accused Frische of cornering a city employee as she was seeking information. During Frische’s meeting, the water department employee was welcoming and very forthcoming with information and education about the testing process for Findlay city water. Muryn requested that  Frische should schedule future meetings with city employees. This is not a requirement for city council members as they are tasked with providing facts for their constituents.