Lordstown mayor estimates legal costs for sewer lawsuit at $1 million

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

LORDSTOWN

One estimate is that Trumbull County and Lordstown officials collectively spent $1 million on legal fees to have a federal judge rule that Lordstown had the right to create and operate its own sewer district starting in 2007.

Lordstown Mayor Arno Hill said the village spent $300,000 to $400,000 to defend the lawsuit the Trumbull County commissioners filed against Lordstown and Warren in 2009.

He thinks the county probably spent more than double that amount on legal fees.

And it’s not clear yet whether the county will file an appeal of the decision, which would add more cost.

Frank Fuda, county commissioner, said there will be discussions in the coming weeks on whether to appeal, but the recent ruling by Judge Benita Y. Pearson of U.S. District Court in Youngstown has several positives.

First, the ruling leaves the western part of the village, including the GM Lords-town complex, within the sewer district operated by the county.

Second, it leaves the east- side sewer district, which has experienced numerous engineering and technical problems since it was constructed several years ago, with the village.

“We lost, but we won,” Fuda said. “We retain the GM plant and the [other village customers] we already had. Lordstown is getting the other part. I wish them well, but I don’t know if we would have wanted to have the east side,” Fuda said of $11.8 million project to add sewers to the last large nonsewer section of the village.

The project was plagued by problems associated with low flow rates traced to the way 9,400 feet of force-main sewers were installed on Hallock-Young Road. Some of those sewer lines were replaced a year ago to fix the problem, Hill said. Most of the intended customers now are receiving sewer service.

The county sued the village for creating the sewer district and constructing sewer lines in an area that it felt was the county’s sewer jurisdiction. The county sued Warren for entering into an agreement with Lordstown to accept and treat the waste.

Judge Pearson ruled in favor of Lordstown and Warren, granting motions for summary judgment, meaning the case ended without a trial.