WOODS CROSS — City officials are angry at the lack of response from Silver Eagle Refinery concerning safety, and they’re demanding the president of the company meet with them.

A meeting with refinery officials was part of Tuesday’s city council agenda to discuss safety measures which were to be put into place to ensure that a fire, such as one that occurred on Jan. 12, doesn’t happen again.

That night, a 42,000-gallon gasoline tank exploded, critically injuring four people and causing the evacuation of homes.

On Tuesday, city officials expected to speak with company president David McSwain. Instead, Gil Higham, operations manager, attended, but he couldn’t answer council members’ questions.

Higham suggested McSwain and other Silver Eagle management meet with the council at another time, since McSwain has an ongoing commitment on Tuesday nights.

But an angry and frustrated Woods Cross Mayor Kent Parry said, “In the spirit of public involvement and openness, the meeting should occur in a forum with the public and press in attendance.”

The mayor went on to tell Higham, “We want to feel comfortable in our city,” a sentiment echoed by council members.

Parry told Higham he believes McSwain should be able to clear his calendar for one Tuesday night meeting.

Higham said repairs have been made to the tank and he expects it will be back in service.

He told the council he believes the fire happened as the result of operator error. He said as workers were clearing a line, they bypassed a stabilizer, probably without even being aware they had done so.

Since the fire, the refinery has promised to institute an eight-step safety plan, and council members wanted to know how much of the plan had been put into place.

Higham told the council he hadn’t seen the plan and couldn’t answer their questions, adding a final report from the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board hasn’t yet been released.

Council member Tamy Dayley said Woods Cross residents need assurance that policies at the refinery have changed and that safety is now a priority. She asked if the city couldn’t arrange with inspectors from the federal Occupational and Health Administration (OSHA) to inspect the tank before it is put back into use.

City Administrator Gary Uresk told her he wasn’t sure if that would be possible. Higham said most of the damage to the tank was caused by the fire fighting efforts, and Uresk said he thought the problem was more of an operational issue rather than a physical issue.

Parry said the councils’ constituents want to know they are safe. He told Higham, “The onerous has fallen on you to assure us the system is safe.”

mwilliams@davisclipper.com