City Council agreed Monday night to contract with a Tampa-based environmental firm to monitor hydrogen sulfide released during the course of construction on Marco Island.

Environ is expected to place three experts on the island to assess ambient air, develop a background study of the gas, form an emission and dispersion model and help communicate the findings to the city, public and media.

The tasks are expected to develop a sense of how much hydrogen sulfide is released as a result of dewatering, as well as how it travels downwind. Environ will measure levels in ambient air as well as groundwater, “at various times and various locations throughout the island,” according to a press release from the city.

Two of the experts, Timothy Varney and James Poole, are public health scientists. They will work alongside analytical chemist and risk assessment specialist Tom Gauthier.

City Council’s unanimous vote awarded the contract for those initial tasks at a cost of $58,000. The city has no funds budgeted for the work, so the cost will be absorbed as a construction cost for the sewer assessment areas.

City officials expect the firm to spend 60 to 90 days monitoring on the island. Depending on the findings of those initial tasks, the firm could suggest further action to the city.

At Monday night’s City Council meeting, the request for the contract appeared as a last-minute agenda item. While no one stepped forward from the crowd to speak against the contract, both citizens and some councilmembers did voice their concerns that more needed to be done.

“I’m wondering if we shouldn’t — while we’re waiting for this firm to tell us just how much of a problem we have — if we shouldn’t put a halt on the dewatering process,” Councilor Chuck Kiester said.

Councilor Terri DiSciullo agreed.

“It makes me uneasy that we have to wait another 60 to 90 days to find out if there’s a problem,” she said.

Public works director Rony Joel again assured the council that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection had sanctioned the dewatering, which he said is necessary for any underground construction in a coastal area. He warned that stopping all dewatering on the island would mean stopping most construction, including the Collier Boulevard work.

Some residents charged that the dewatering, aside from allegedly impacting human health, was harming pets and driving marine life from the canals.

While the council did not form any resolution on whether the construction should be stopped, they seemed content to settle with Councilor Rob Popoff’s suggestion that an emergency meeting be called if tests conducted Tuesday by the DEP yield anything alarming.

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