TRUMBULL COURT State, landfill companies work to settle charges

The companies stipulate to contempt of court, but ask that penalties be suspended for 30 days.
WARREN -- The Ohio attorney general's office and the companies that own and operate a Martin Luther King Avenue landfill are asking for 30 days to put contempt of court charges to rest.
In an agreement filed Monday by Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro's office in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, the parties stipulate that Warren Recycling Inc. and Warren Hills LLC are in contempt of the court's consent order and permanent injunction entered July 1, 2003.
Warren Hills formerly operated the landfill, which is owned by WRI.
As a result of the stipulation, the parties ask the court to enter the finding of contempt, cancel the evidentiary hearing that had been scheduled for Monday and suspend contempt penalties for 30 days.
Negotiations
The parties have been negotiating an order that would modify the July 1, 2003, consent order and permanent injunction to purge the contempt, the document says.
"Those negotiations are nearly finalized," it says.
The parties request 30 days to complete negotiations and present an order for the court's approval.
Atty. Steven D. Bell, who represents Warren Recycling Inc., declined to comment on the negotiations.
"We're trying to achieve as much peace on as many fronts as possible, and we're working very hard to do that," Bell said.
Debbie Roth, president of Our Lives Count, a citizens organization formed because of health concerns surrounding the landfill, declined to comment.
The situation
Residents have complained for years about the rotten-egg hydrogen sulfide odor coming from the landfill. Last year, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry labeled the area around the landfill an "urgent public health hazard."
Earlier this year, several residents, including Roth, filed a class action lawsuit, naming the companies, the landfill's current and former owners, the city and others as defendants.
Michigan Atty. David Dubin, who represents the residents, couldn't be reached.
The July 2003 consent agreement was to settle violations at the landfill including acceptance of solid waste in the late 1990s. The landfill is licensed to accept construction and demolition debris, but not solid waste.
The 2003 consent agreement specified a time line by which the companies had to meet requirements like pumping leachate from the landfill and conducting groundwater, gas and air monitoring.
The AG's office filed the motion for contempt in March 2004 saying that the companies didn't fulfill the requirements by the deadlines.
denise_dick@vindy.com