PRESTON – A 6:30 a.m. call Tuesday morning got Town of Preston Supervisor Peter C. Flanagan out of bed. A farmer in his township was on the other end, and described a terrible odor in the air.

The odor was still there when Flanagan arrived at the farm just off county Route 10 at 6:45 a.m. “It was not swamp gas, I can tell you that,” he said.

Flanagan told his story to county officials during a meeting of the Public Works Committee Thursday. Complaints of an awful smell and the possibility of it emitting from the Pharsalia Landfill have been phoned into the township and the Chenango County Public Works Department periodically since 2004. However, an investigation involving health and environmental conservation officials found no possible link to the nearby landfill and suggested swamp gas or fumes from outdoor fireplaces.

As a good faith measure, the DPW purchased and installed $5,000 flares to three gas vents at the dump. “We were told the smells were not coming from the landfill, but if they were, the flares would take care of it,” department Director Randy Gibbon said.