Topeka ? Gov. Mark Parkinson has appointed a five-member panel to help residents move out of a contaminated southeast Kansas town.

The federal government has allotted $3.5 million for the buyout of homes in Treece, which has about 100 residents. The former mining town is surrounded by millions of tons of lead- and zinc-contaminated waste known as chat.

Members of the State Public Trust will administer the relocation assistance.

Parkinson announced the appointments Tuesday of Pittsburg businessman Gene Bicknell and four Columbus residents with extensive business and government backgrounds: James Dahmen, John Delmont Jr., Eddie Hamilton and Betty McBride.