State: Warren can act against landfill

A contempt of court motion is pending.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A spokesman for the Ohio Attorney General's office says the city's health board can take action against a landfill without notification about a contempt of court motion.
Last week, members of the city's board of health said they couldn't consider action against the landfill operated by Warren Hills because they haven't been notified about a contempt-of-court motion against the facility that's pending in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
A hearing was set for this week but has been continued.
Group urges revocation
Debbie Roth, leader of Our Lives Count, a residents group formed because of concerns about the Martin Luther King Avenue facility, urged health board members to revoke the company's license.
She cited a contempt of court motion filed by the Ohio Attorney General's office against the facility charging it with failing to meet the requirements of a consent agreement reached last July. That motion constitutes an enforcement action, and Roth contended that amounts to the facility's not being in substantial compliance.
Group members are concerned about the health effects of hydrogen sulfide, a gas with an odor likened to rotten eggs, coming from the landfill.
Board members said they couldn't by law take any action stemming from the contempt of court motion because they hadn't been notified.
State disagrees
But Bob Beasley, a spokesman for Attorney General Jim Petro's Office, said there's no law that prevents board members from acting.
"No official notification is needed," he said.
Robert Pinti, deputy city health commissioner, said it's standard practice to wait for notification to act.
"The board can't act on something that's in a newspaper," he said.