Septic tank company appeals health department ban

SANDUSKY — A septic tank company banned from doing business in Erie County has filed an appeal in court. Last week, Erie County's health board voted to remove all of the licenses, to do business in Erie County, given to Father & Son Septic Services. There are three separate registrations, as the licenses are called. Right now, the company isn't allowed to haul away sewage from septic tanks, repair and maintain septic tank systems or install new ones. Father & Son has appealed the decision with a local court filing. The case has been assigned to Erie County Common Pleas Court Judge Roger Binette. In addition, the company, represented by Cleveland attorney Brent English, also has filed an emergency motion, asking Binette to put the license removal on hold until the judge makes a final ruling in the case. Binette's magistrate, Steven Bechtel, has scheduled a hearing on the request for the stay for 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 14. Although the company does business in other counties, the emergency motion says it gets 40% of its total business in Erie County, including half of its net income, about $125,000 a year. The accusations Father & Son is accused of dumping raw sewage in a farm field at 12312 Green Road, in eastern Erie County, from 2021 until earlier this year. During last week's hearing by the health board, Craig Ward, the health department's chief environmental public health officer, estimated that up to 871,000 gallons of raw sewage could have been dumped in the field. According to Ward and other health department officials, the raw sewage is supposed to be taken to sewage treatment plants. English did not attend last week's hearing, and Jim Coon, the owner of Father & Son, attended only the first few minutes of the meeting. The motion indicated Coon left when the health board began private deliberations on the request for a delay, apparently confused about what would happen next. Other people attending the meeting returned when the health board resumed meeting in public. English had sought to delay last week's hearing, and the appeal contends that the health board's decision to deny the continuance was unreasonable and denied Coon his due process rights. The appeal also claims that the health board's decision to revoke licenses was "illegal, arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable" and unsupported by evidence. The health department is represented by assistant Erie County prosecutor Jason Hinners. Hinners said he's working on a response to the motion for a stay of the health board's order and will file his response to the court. As for the appeal of the health board's decision, Hinners explained that when an administrative appeal is filed disputing the health board's decision, the first step is to complete a transcript of the health board's hearing. There is a 40-day deadline to do that, and once that's done, it's expected that the court will lay out a path for deciding the case, Hinners said. The health department says it is seeking remediation of the dumping site. In addition, the department is waiting for the result of an Ohio EPA investigation of the incident.