Mineral Ridge property owner wants judge to decide who owns sewer line
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
A property owner who built a sewer line on St. Mary’s Drive in Mineral Ridge more than a decade ago has asked a judge to decide who owns it.
It is an unusual request after what has been called a precedent-setting 2015 ruling by Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
The judge said the method of building sewer projects property owner Gary Ventling used, called a reimbursable extension agreement, was unconstitutional.
The method involves a property owner building a sewer line, turning it over to the county and having the county charge property owners along the line a share of the project’s costs.
Other residents of St. Mary’s Drive sued Ventling, the county commissioners and the Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer’s Office. Judge McKay ruled against Ventling and the county.
But since the judge ruled the reimbursable extension agreement unconstitutional, Ventling wants a judge to decide what happens to the sewer line. Does it revert back to Ventling? Judge Andrew Logan will decide.
Atty. Matt Blair, legal adviser to the sanitary engineer’s office, said he could not comment on the lawsuit.
Judge McKay ruled that the Ohio law governing this type of sewer project resulted in “totally unreasonable charges” being “levied to landowners with absolutely no relation to the project costs and with no supervision or oversight by the Trumbull County commissioners.”
The county appealed the decision to the 11th District Court of Appeals, but Judge McKay’s decision was upheld.
The new suit recites the history of the case – Ventling built it at his cost, transferred it to the county, then Judge McKay ruled that method unconstitutional.
“It is the position of [Ventling] that the sanitary sewer line installed by [Ventling] ... is the property of [Ventling.]”
It says Judge McKay’s ruling took away the county’s authority to accept the sanitary sewer line because that method was “declared void and of no legal effect.”