Landfill lawsuit still in discovery phase
What’s happening with Polk County’s lawsuit against the landfill? Right now, the answer is not too much but enough to keep the county’s lawyer busy.
County Attorney Brad McFall provided a report during the latest session of the Polk County Board of Commissioners that for the time being the two sides in the suit are still going through the opening rounds of gathering evidence.
Commission chair Jennifer Hulsey
He told commissioners at the end of their November regular session the lawsuit is moving forward step by step.
“We’re in the process of discovery, which is the exchange of written documents and the exchange of questions,” McFall explained. “That’s where we are. The current issue we’re trying to solve is unrestricted and unaccompanied access so we can do spot inspections of the landfill.”
Currently he said the agreement allows for county officials to go unannounced, but not unaccompanied.
“We hope to take that up at our December executive session,” McFall said.
He also said daily tonnage reports as far back as 2007 are being made available and will require a full analysis.
The discovery phase of the lawsuit is expected to last at minimum six months from the first filing, he answered when asked by Commissioner Hal Floyd.
He also added that Waste Industries are allowing inspections from the county on the property without any issues.
McFall’s update is the latest word on a suit filed back in the spring by the county against Waste Industries, who was recently bought out.
The suit in the Tallapoosa Circuit Superior Court seeks $811,552.40 in monetary compensation from Waste Industries for two specific financial violations in the contract, stemming from the company overcharging the county on fuel fees, and additionally from underpayments of host fees. Those include interest derived from the overcharges and host fees due.
As well as those fees, the county’s complaint alleges Waste Industries hasn’t been making proper contributions to the trust for the postclosure fund to monitor the site through testing wells once it is closed for good, and seeks to get an independent auditor involved in the process.
It cites that Waste Industries failed to live up to the operating agreement due to “inadequate control of odors emanating from the landfill as a result, in part, of the acceptance and disposal of industrial and municipal sludge, among other odor producing sources.”
Noise complaints were among the other problems cited in the suit filed in May 2018.