Contempt ruling sought against local septic tank company owner

SANDUSKY — The Erie County Health Department alleges a local septic tank company owner should be held in contempt of court and punished for violating a health department order on hauling sewage. Father & Son Septic Services has been under fire for months for allegedly dumping raw sewage on a farm field in eastern Erie County. The health department responded to the allegations by removing the company's license to install new septic tank systems, haul sewage from such systems and perform maintenance on such systems. Father & Son filed an appeal. The judge assigned to the case, Erie County Common Pleas Court Judge Roger Binette, issued a temporary ruling upholding the ban on installing new systems and hauling sewage but allowed Father & Son to perform maintenance to service existing customers. In a new court filing, the health department contends that Father & Son owner Jim Coon knowingly violated the judge's ruling by hauling sewage from Brownhelm Country Market, 1605 N. Ridge Road in Vermilion. Brownhelm actually is in Lorain County, but all of Vermilion comes under the health department's jurisdiction, said Jason Hinners, an assistant prosecutor who filed the motion on Tuesday. Coon clearly knows that, Hinners contends in the court filing, because, in an earlier court filing, he listed work at Brownhelm Country Market as an example of work he'd be prevented from carrying out if the health department's ban was upheld. Cleveland attorney Brent English, who represents Coon, did not return a telephone call asking for comment on the new motion. Hinners' motion asked Binette to impose a fine of $250, sentence Coon to up to 30 days in jail, or do both. It also asks Binette to tell Coon to follow the earlier order and to take any other actions the court deems appropriate. No court date has been set to consider the motion. That's up to the court and will take into account the court's schedule, although it's likely the hearing will be held in a matter of weeks rather than months, Hinners said. The health department has ordered Father & Son to carry out remediation to clean up the farm field where the sewage allegedly was dumped. Health commissioner Pete Schade said Thursday that as far as he knows, that work has not been carried out yet.