YOUNGSTOWN — A Sharpsville, Pa., company will get the cleanup bill for an April chemical spill at Youngstown State University.

On Wednesday, Mahoning County commissioners passed a resolution “to certify costs for recovery to the Prosecutor’s Office due to an unauthorized spill.” Those costs, which amounted to $12,287.55, will be assessed to Barber’s Chemicals, the company responsible for the gas leak that forced YSU to evacuate Beeghly Center on April 25.

Just before 9:30 a.m., an employee from Barber’s, which holds the contract to provide pool-cleaning services for the university, poured chlorine into the wrong tank, where it mixed with muriatic acid and created a corrosive chlorine gas. The gas filled the tank room and partially contaminated the natatorium, sending the employee to the hospital and forcing the closure of the building for the rest of the day.

In addition to housing the pool and Zidian Family Arena, where the YSU basketball teams play, Beeghly Center also houses other athletic facilities and classrooms. The event occurred just days before final exams began and a week prior to YSU’s graduation ceremonies, which take place in the arena. HAZMAT teams from Mahoning, Trumbull, and Portage counties responded and worked for several hours to remediate the problem.

After running the HVAC units all day that Friday and HAZMAT and Barber’s cleaning decontaminated the space, the building reopened the next day.

Mahoning County HAZMAT Chief Steve Szekely said the gas did not spread beyond the natatorium and cleanup was finished by 4:30 p.m. The university said that nobody besides the Barber’s employee was sickened by the gas, and final exams and graduation ceremonies were able to proceed as planned.

Szekely and Youngstown fire Chief Barry Finley said the same company caused a similar problem at the Central YMCA downtown in July 2022, when an employee poured aluminum sulfate — also an acidic compound — into the chlorine tank, creating the same type of gas. Three people were taken to the hospital with minor to moderate breathing problems but were released shortly thereafter.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration states that even low levels of exposure to chlorine gas can cause eye, throat, sinus and lung irritation and coughing, while high levels of exposure can lead to severe respiratory trauma, lung damage and possibly death.

YSU police, the Youngstown Fire Department and Randolph Township Fire Department in Portage County also responded.