ROCKLAND – After months of delays, city councilors Thursday rejected a 10-year landfill access agreement with one of the city’s largest taxpayers and employers.

FMC Corp. extracts carageenan from seaweed for use as a food additive, stabilizer and thickening agent. The company, which employs about 130 workers, has been disposing of the seaweed byproduct, known as algefiber, at the city’s landfill since 1969. The latest contract expires Dec. 31. Algefiber consists of seaweed particles, perlite, water, lime, salt, sand and rock.

The council heard an hourlong round of public comment Thursday, much the same as it heard Monday night for two hours.

Of the numerous reasons for not signing a contract, resident Olive Pierce said the “one compelling reason is health.”

“It is simply not OK to go along with a contract while there are health questions,” she said.

Many other people agreed, including three councilors – Carol Maines, Adele Grossman Faber and Hal Perry – who rejected the contract. Mayor Brian Harden and Councilor Eric Hebert voted in favor of the agreement.

Before the council voted on the contract, several professionals, including City Engineer David Chittim, attempted to clear the air about some alleged facts voiced at previous council meetings about hydrogen sulfide gas, which is produced when FMC’s waste is not managed properly. The gas also develops in a leachate pool at the landfill, where every imaginable type of waste has been dumped in the past 75 years, city officials have said.

Both Chittim and Janet Robinson, a senior scientist at Woodard & Curran of Portland, said hydrogen sulfide is detectable by some people at 0.5 ppb. Most people can smell the rotten egg stench at 20 ppb, which is far below the level at which the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has set as a workplace ceiling – 20,000 ppb.

“Little is known in the medical community about the long-term effects of lower-level exposures,” Chittim said, noting the city has contracted with a local physician to talk with city employees next week about the effects of hydrogen sulfide exposure at the 1,000 ppb to 10,000 ppb range. A public informational session will be held sometime next month.

“FMC has been a good corporate neighbor,” Patrick Reilley, a former councilor, said. The company has gone beyond its contractual obligations at times to help solve problems, has never requested tax increment finance deals or tax abatements and, according to the proposed contract, will help pay “enormous” costs to close the dump.

FMC also agreed to pay for an odor study, estimated to cost $20,000 to $50,000.

“For the good of Rockland, the city needs to sign the contract and get on with the work,” Reilley said.

Under the contract, FMC would pay $16.40 per cubic yard to dispose of dry waste compared to the $3.50 it now pays. The company would also pay new fees for landfill closure costs and post-closure maintenance at a rate of $2.05 and $3.67 per cubic yard, respectively. The general public pays $75 per cubic yard.

There are also potential liabilities for the city if the byproduct produces problems after it gets dumped at the landfill.

Grossman Faber thinks FMC should be paying the same rate as the general public.

Some FMC employees have blamed the city for the dump odor, saying it was allowing the waste to sit too long before spreading it at the landfill.

“If we can’t handle the waste why do they want us to take it?” Grossman Faber asked. “Why not go to Hampden?”

What happens come Jan. 1 is yet unknown.

After adjournment, Harden and City Manager Tom Hall said a meeting will soon be scheduled to address that question. The city could extend FMC’s current contract, set a new rate, negotiate an interim agreement or “do nothing” and have the company pay $75 per cubic yard, Hall said.