Preparing for possible suit, board OKs legal-fee funds

The cross-claim has not yet been filed.
WARREN -- The Trumbull County Board of Health has authorized spending up to $5,000 in legal fees in anticipation of getting dragged into a lawsuit between the Ohio EPA and the county commissioners.
Although the health department has not yet been served with papers, it expects the commissioners to file a cross-claim against it shortly, said Donna Price, a member of the health board.
She said the board voted Wednesday to look into hiring an attorney, even though nothing has been filed in court, because there are no scheduled board meetings until August.
On April 10, the EPA filed a lawsuit against the commissioners for failing to fix septic problems in the McKinley Heights area of Weathersfield Township.
The county laid sewer lines over some of the area, but the EPA wants more.
At a meeting several months ago, James Brutz, an assistant county prosecutor, warned the health board that commissioners were taking the position that the continuing McKinley Heights septic problem was the health department's fault.
Brutz said the department failed to make homeowners tie into the new line.
He also asked the board to work on finding solutions other than new sewer lines in more than a dozen other areas in the county.