Camden residents concerned over transparency in EMR deal

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About a dozen Camden residents showed up at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting and raised concerns about an agreement between the city and EMR, the operator of a metal recycling yard in South Camden. The agreement comes following a five-alarm fire over the winter that EMR blamed on “the storage or disposal of lithium-ion batteries.”

A social media post on Facebook urged people to show up to Tuesday’s meeting to speak out against the $6.7 million deal announced in April. The post alleged that city officials didn’t incorporate public input before drawing up the contract.

“Stop the steal, I mean, deal that you have on the table,” said Aliyah Jones, a Waterfront South resident.

She said residents have not yet had a chance to speak to EMR and share their grievances because Council Vice President Arthur Barclay, who represents Ward 4, canceled the meeting.

Barclay read from a prepared statement before public comments, noting that the EMR agreement was not on the agenda. He declined to comment further after the meeting.

Councilwoman Sheila Davis urged her colleagues to hear the residents’ concerns.

“They showed up here for a reason,” she said. “We should hear them out, and we should have full transparency of what’s being done with the money that has been allotted for that neighborhood.”

Kevin Barfield, another city resident, said he was unaware that the agreement was not on the agenda, but wanted to show support.

“You never know if it’s going to be a walk on or not,” he said, referring to the procedure of council members bringing proposals to the meeting that were not previously on the agenda. Barfield added that the city had many opportunities to address problems with EMR before the recent fire.

“They violated the junkyard code, they’ve been violating things from inside, you could have actually voided their actual permit to operate,” he said.

Council President Angel Fuentes said after the meeting that he understood the community’s frustrations, especially since they have been calling for EMR to be held accountable since the February blaze. He said he hopes that residents will “take a step back” and recognize the efforts of Mayor Vic Carstarphen in addressing their concerns.

“I’m glad people did speak,” he said. “[The mayor] is very transparent … he will meet with the community to go over the [agreement].”

Fuentes said the agreement is still being drafted. According to the deal, EMR has agreed to improve and enhance the fire suppression system at its facility and reimburse the Camden Fire Department for damages incurred while fighting the blaze.

The company also agreed to reduce its overall footprint in Camden by nine acres, increase inspections of materials brought to the site, limit what can be stored there and reduce the height of shredding piles.

City Council approved an ordinance in April regulating lithium-ion batteries.