Trash trial tests ties

NORWALK — Collaboration across county borders ended about two years ago, but a clash over where Huron County trash gets hauled will end in court, sort of, sometime next week. At least that's when the arguments over a falling out between the two counties will stop, and attorneys representing each county will make closing arguments in front of Visiting Judge Janet Burnside, via Zoom. The bench trial in Erie County versus Huron County, a lawsuit filed in 2018, started this week. Burnside is presiding from her home, while the plaintiffs and the defendants attended from their respective attorneys' offices. The Zoom trial is being conducted through the Erie County Common Pleas Court's audio-video system. Erie County contends Huron County officials abruptly ended the partnership and violated its contract for hauling trash from Huron County to the Erie County-owned landfill in Milan. Erie County commissioner Pat Shenigo, county administrator Pete Daniel and Peter Welch, the buildings and grounds supervisor and director of operations for Huron County, all testified about the events leading up to the ugly breakup. According to Erie County officials, there was little to no warning before Huron County switched it out and started having trash hauled to a privately owned landfill in Richland County. At the time, there were still about 20 months left on the contract. They also said they were under the impression their counterparts intended to renew the contract for another five years beginning in 2020. We had a deal Erie County has estimated the amount of its lost revenue to about $1.2 million from the final 20 months of the contract. Huron County officials tell a different story. They contend Erie County's hauler was in violation of the contract and they warned Erie County officials about that. The arrangement called for all trash haulers to take waste to the closed Huron County landfill, where the county maintained a transfer station. Haulers dumped the trash there and county workers picked it up and piled it in trailers that a trucking company hired by Erie County took to the Milan-based landfill. Erie County received just over $27 per ton and Huron County retained its portion of the fees charged to businesses and residents for trash hauling. The deal Huron County made with the privately-owned Rumpke landfill in Richland County, directly south of Huron County, was more expensive, at $29 per ton. About 35,000 tons are hauled annually. A better way? Erie County officials deny they were given any adequate warning before Huron County walked away. They also deny there was any cause for severing the contract. There were efforts to negotiate, including a proposal to close the transfer station and have haulers dispose trash to the nearest landfill — which would mean both landfills would receive waste — but the efforts to resolve the conflict failed before the lawsuit was filed. That arrangement, according to some, would substantially reduce the fees residents and businesses pay for hauling trash in Huron County by eliminating excess trucking costs and labor at the transfer station. It's unknown why this solution was rejected, or why Huron County was willing to pay Rumpke more. Erie County officials testified that they immediately addressed complaints from Huron County. The attorneys said as many as four or more people will be called to testify next week. The plaintiff's witness list submitted to the court includes a forensic accounting expert. Defendant Huron County's list includes commissioners Terry Boose, Joe Hintz, Bruce "Skip" Wilde. The trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday and again Thursday, and on Friday, if needed, Burnside said. * Editor's note: This story was changed to correct the job title for Peter Welch.