"U.S. Justice Department could act against towns - Sewage treatment plant: College Corner boards to meet," is the headline to this story today in the Richmond Palladium-Item. The towns involved are Town of West College Corner, Indiana and Village of College Corner, Ohio. This map shows where the are located, on the Indiana/Ohio border south of US 40/I70 and Richmond. The story reports that:
The U.S. Department of Justice is considering legal action against both sides of this two-state community because of problems with the Indiana side's sewage treatment plant.The two communities have an interlocal agreement for sewage services, provided by a plant on the Indiana side. In March, according to the story, "attorneys for both towns received letters from Justice ... ordering them to Chicago for an April 8 meeting to discuss the plant's violations. Both attorneys said their towns couldn't afford to pay them to travel to Chicago, town council president Terry Starcher said. [Justice] agreed attorneys could submit the information needed by mail." More:
Two years ago, the federal Environmental Protection Agency notified the towns that it planned to hold both sides responsible for improvements and violations at the community's sewage treatment plant. The EPA ordered College Corner, Ohio, to become a federal permit holder for the sewage treatment plant.Background documents available on the web include this 9/1/903 Palladium-Item story:The plant has been in violation of environmental rules since 1996 and has operated under an agreement with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management that required West College Corner to upgrade the plant. Some work has been done, but finishing the project was delayed by a dispute over sewer bills. The dispute traveled through several courts before an interlocal agreement was signed in fall 2003.
LIBERTY, Ind. - Union County Circuit Judge James Williams gave the town councils of West College Corner, Ind., and College Corner, Ohio, a stern warning Wednesday: Produce a written agreement by Tuesday or a mediator will do it for you.Here is the Indiana Court of Appeals decision of 4/23/02. Posted by Marcia Oddi at April 25, 2004 01:47 PMIn June, the councils met with mediator Doug Hill for two days and signed a memorandum of understanding. The mediation was to settle the last segment of a seven-year-old lawsuit between the towns over sewage bills and operation of the treatment plant. A memorandum of understanding is legally binding on the parties that sign it. * * *
Attorney Tom O'Connor, who represents West College Corner, told the judge Wednesday that the draft submitted by attorney Harrison Green was "miles" away from the draft that's acceptable to the Indianapolis bond counsel representing West College Corner.
West College Corner is required by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to improve its sewage treatment plant. To qualify for funding, the town needs an agreement for service with its largest customer, College Corner, Ohio.
If the councils can't produce a document by the deadline, the mediator will return with a word processor and write one, Williams said. * * *
At issue is a $3.2 million counterclaim filed in 1999 by College Corner, Ohio, against West College Corner for damages relating to the sewer service. West College Corner first sued the Ohio village in 1996 over its unpaid sewer bills. The 1996 suit was settled through facilitators working with the councils in 2000.
The case has been in Union Circuit Court, U.S. District Court, Wayne Circuit Court and the Indiana Court of Appeals, which returned it to Union Circuit Court.