A question-and-answer forum about PFOS and PFOA contamination in Newburgh drew more media and public officials than actual members of the public.

Officials from the Department of Defense and the Air Force first met privately with local officials for an hour at the Newburgh Armory to discuss litigation over the recent contamination of Lake Washington, where Newburgh residents used to get their drinking water.

Then, they took questions about the process for a full environmental clean-up.

Their main suggestion was to start a resident advisory board which would guide the process, preventing run-off from the Stewart Air National Guard Base from contaminating the land and water.

One local activist voiced her disappointment with the short notice given for a meeting in the middle of a weekday. The reps from the DOD and Air Force were just hired into their positions this year; they agreed the clean-up process had not been handled well.

"A meeting at 1 in the afternoon with a week's notice, with no agenda shared with the public, is not the way to say to the public that we're here to work with you in an open and transparent way," said Ophra Wolf, a volunteer with Newburgh Clean Water Project.

"The process here, for a number of reasons that we talked about, is not moving along the way that it should. It's not moving along in a routine, consistent way that an environmental clean-up should; that draws us as senior leaders up here," said John Henderson, USAF assistant secretary for installations, environment, and energy.

Officials with the Air Force say they are dealing with 190 contaminated communities as well as doing site evaluations to figure out the next steps, and reach full remediation of the contamination.