NATCHEZ — Long-term effects of a 1989 chemical spill at the former Titan Tire plant may soon see finality.

Attorney Michael Caples of Butler Snow reported to the Natchez Board of Aldermen Tuesday that trace amounts of two chemicals still exist in groundwater at the site, located at 89 Kelly Ave.

Caples represents the city in the Titan Tire matter.

The groundwater treatment to remove the chemicals has ceased, Caples said, with as much contamination removed as possible.

The contaminant levels just barely exceed what would be considered drinking-water quality, Caples said. The contaminated aquifer is not suitable for drinking water, he said, but the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality still requires the groundwater be cleaned to those standards.

MDEQ has allowed the contaminated site to enter into natural attenuation, Caples said, which basically means any remaining contaminants will naturally degrade.

As a condition, the site will continue to be monitored and the city would need to place a restrictive covenant, or environmental covenant, on the property. The covenant would require the city to post signs on the property stating that no one could dig on the site without first contacting MDEQ.

The signs would be provided by Titan at no cost to the city, Caples said, and Titan has funded an escrow account for MDEQ should any further work need to be completed on the site, such as repairing monitoring wells.

Additionally, the city would submit an annual report to MDEQ stating that the covenant remains in place and no damage has been done to monitoring wells on the site.

The covenant and the move into natural attenuation, Caples said, provides some finality to the site, and the stigma of the contamination has been at least somewhat lifted.

“People who come in and buy (the property) are not going to have to spend any more money to try to remediate the damage on the site, because it’s basically completed,” Caples said.

The board of aldermen, at the recommendation of City Attorney Bob Latham, unanimously authorized the environmental covenant. The action Tuesday only addressed the groundwater contamination and not any other environmental concerns, including asbestos.

Before the motion passed, Ward 2 Alderman Billie Joe Frazier, who is a resident in the area of the former plant, asked Caples that when Titan vacates the site, would the “skeleton crew” that maintains the site leave as well, leaving the site empty and unmaintained.

“Once y’all leave, it’s just going to be a big, old empty building with nobody (to maintain it),” he asked.

Mayor Darryl Grennell pointed out Caples represented the city, not Titan Tire.

Betty Ruth Fox of Watkins and Eager, representing Titan, got up from the audience and told Frazier the company had given the city notice of its interest in vacating the property, but was only asking the city to handle the restricted-use order and environmental covenant agreement Tuesday.

Grennell asked that any further discussion be germane to the motion on the covenant, and the motion passed without further discussion.

Titan Tire, based out of Quincy, Ill., is currently leasing the property from the city.

The factory has been under lease by several entities since 1938.

It started out as the Armstrong Tire Co. under the Balancing Agriculture with Industry Program, a long-term lease program that allowed the city to take out a bond to purchase the property in order to encourage industrial growth.

In 1986, when Armstrong closed its Natchez plant, some of the management of Armstrong formed the Condere Corp. and bought the plant, renaming it Fidelity Tire.

After Condere went bankrupt in 1998, Titan Tire purchased the plant and operated it until ceasing production in 2001 after a labor strike.