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PULASKI -- Pulaski officials want to meet with a Virginia Department of Environmental Quality representative about an air quality report for Pulaski County.

Councilman John Bolen wants details about last month's Associated Press analysis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data rating Pulaski County's air as the third-worst in the state, based on industrial reports of substances released into the atmosphere.

"Our reputation as a town is at stake, in my opinion," Bolen told other members of Pulaski Town Council at a meeting Tuesday night.

Bolen wanted the town to hire an air quality expert and track down the air pollution sources cited in the report. But council instead went for Town Engineer Bill Pedigo's suggestion that someone from DEQ come to a meeting and explain the findings.

The EPA requires companies that use certain toxic chemicals to report discharges into the air. That data went into the Toxics Release Inventory, which AP analyzed to indicate risk factors. The discharges are all legal and allowed by permit.

The same report ranked Radford as having the fifth-worst air in the state.

Town Manager John Hawley agreed that the town could use more background on the study. "It's the image thing that we're fighting," he said.

Councilman Dan Talbert questioned what factors went into the study, noting that more heavily populated urban areas would seem more likely candidates for dirty air. "If that's per capita, that taints it," he said of the study.

The town and county are also getting together on the possible expansion of the county's two enterprise zones, state designations that bring tax and other benefits to new or expanding businesses within them.

The Pulaski County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing Monday night on the proposed expansions, and council held one Tuesday, but nobody spoke at either one. Council passed a resolution supporting the zone expansion, which would extend to the town.

The county has two zones, a 1.2-square-mile tract near Fairlawn where the county has an industrial park and a 3-square-mile zone in the Dublin area.

The county is considering an extension of the second one to link it to the town's industrial park, which would also include a noncontiguous area near the intersection of Bob White Boulevard and Virginia 99.

"Will that help us get 99 four-laned?" asked councilwoman Bettye Steger. "That is so important to us." Virginia 99 is one of the two entrances to Pulaski from Interstate 81.

"Couldn't hurt," said John White, the town's economic development director.

But David Tickner, the county's community development director, said a four-laning project is not that likely.

"It's on our six-year plan, but it's a long way down and, right now, we're trying to find funding for our existing projects," Tickner said.

County officials will discuss the extension possibilities at the Feb. 27 supervisors meeting.

In other business, council approved a $9,500 contract with Lucas Real Estate Appraisal Services to appraise town-owned forest land around Hogan's Reservoir and recommend the best use of that property. The town built the reservoir in 1919. It now serves as a backup water supply for Pulaski.

Finance Director Sherry Boyd informed council that a total of $33,336 in delinquent taxes, including penalties and interest, had been collected as of the end of 2005. Her department is now gathering information on property owners with delinquent real estate accounts for NexTran, an agency with which the town has contracted to go after unpaid taxes.