Sebring water crisis is a troubling tale of deflection

Who was really to blame for the Sebring water crisis? The answer to that question may well have been revealed had the trial of James Bates, former Sebring water superintendent, gone forward Monday.

But Bates pleaded no-contest Friday and was convicted of one count of violating the state’s drinking water regulations. He was sentenced by Visiting Judge Patricia Cosgrove in Mahoning County Area Court in Sebring to 200 hours of community service and a $500 fine. He did not get time behind bars.

It is noteworthy that Bates was charged last year with two counts of recklessly failing to provide timely notice of excessive lead levels found in water samples, and one count of recklessly failing to provide timely public education on safeguards to take during the water alert.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Craig Butler filed the misdemeanor criminal charges. However, state prosecutors dropped two counts in exchange for Bates’ plea.

Judge Cosgrove ordered the former water superintendent to serve two years’ probation, which could be cut short if the defendant pays the fine and meets other terms.

Bates is appealing his January 2016 revocation of his license to serve as an Ohio public water system operator.

We were looking forward to the trial because there have been conflicting reports and allegations from the time the Sebring water crisis came to light in 2015.

Notifications of high lead levels in the drinking water were sent to customers in Sebring seven weeks late, resulting in the charges against Bates. The attorney general’s office said the superintendent should have sent notifications in late September 2015 to 20 homeowners and in late October to an additional 10 homes because of high lead levels.

The count that Bates pleaded no-contest to states he should have notified all Sebring water system customers by late November 2015.

Differing claims

Although the prosecutor in the case, Ken Egbert, an assistant attorney general, said Bates’ crime did not cause “substantial health risk” for Sebring water users in late 2015 and 2016, there are differing claims about the notification.

Egbert informed the court that OEPA employee Chris Maslo told Bates to alert the public to the high lead levels and gave him an internet link to documents that would show him how to do it.

But the former water superintendent counters that his failure to send the public notices was due to an advisory he received from Maslo.

During a hearing last January, Atty. John Juhasz, who is Bates’ lawyer, said his client’s defense against the charges was that Maslo told him to “wait until he heard back, or was not given any instruction at all.”

But state prosecutors countered that Ohio’s drinking water laws place the responsibility for notifying the public squarely on the shoulders of the “operator of record” – in this case Bates.

Who’s right? The public will never know because none of the individuals involved in the water crisis was required to testify under oath. Therein lies the problem with the plea agreement.

Indeed, Bates continues to insist that he was simply following the dictates from Columbus when he failed to act.

He told The Vindicator after Friday’s court hearing that the Sebring water crisis, which occurred in the midst of the drinking-water scandal in Flint, Mich., left him “hung out to dry.”

He used that specific phrase to describe how he felt after receiving instructions from OEPA’s Maslo and because he had no experience collecting water samples. He also had no experience in sending out notifications about high lead levels.

Such an admission triggers a slew of questions about Bates’ qualifications and professional experience to serve as Sebring’s superintendent of water.

How extensively did Sebring village officials delve into Bates’ background before they decided to hire him? Were they aware that he had no experience collecting water samples? Did he tell them that he had no experience sending out notifications about high lead levels?

When The Vindicator contacted the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for a response to Bates’ claims about the OEPA, here’s what Kate Hanson, public information officer, said:

“He pled guilty and was convicted. We defer to the plea of no contest and court finding him guilty.”