Settlement Ends Wilbros Civil Suit

Stephens County officials are responding to the end of the Wilbros’ civil suit.

Judge Robert Adamson signed a Final Consent Order for the case on December 17 and the Clerk of Court’s office received it on Monday.

This ruling by Judge Adamson and agreed to by both parties ends the civil suit filed by Stephens County Commissioners, Toccoa City Commissioners, the Stephens County Board of Education, and the Concerned Citizens of Toccoa-Stephens County, LLC against Wilbros and associated defendants over odor and nuisance complaints stemming from the facility’s operations.

Stephens County Attorney Brian Ranck said he is pleased with the final outcome of the Wilbros’ civil case.

“I am just happy for the citizens,” said Ranck. “I am happy for the folks who live and work near the Wilbros facility that they can go about their business and not have to worry about the odors. From that perspective, it is a good result. I feel like it gives the county the assurances that are needed that this operation is not going to start back up, the activities that caused these odors should be permanently stopped. I think it is a positive result. I think the intent of the Board of Commissioners to abate the odors has been reached, so it is a successful conclusion to a relatively long and drawn-out lawsuit.”

Judge Adamson’s order contains a number of points.

First, the order calls for the permanent cessation and restriction against commercial composting at the Wilbros facility in Toccoa on Rose Lane.

It also calls for the prohibition of receipt, acceptance and transport of waste to and from the Toccoa facility; the prohibition of storage of any waste materials at the Toccoa facility; and the prohibition of conducting the nutrient management, or land injection, operation at the Toccoa facility.

Judge Adamson’s signed order also calls on Wilbros to continue compliance with the requirements of the closure order from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

As part of the order, Wilbros agrees not to transfer or assign any EPD or Department of Agriculture permits held by Wilbros or any other defendant in the case.

Also, it calls on a payment to the plaintiffs from Wilbros and the defendants of $200,000 by December 31 conditioned on the dismissal of the pending nuisance citations in Stephens County State Court.

The order does state that Wilbros and the other defendants are not admitting any liability by consenting to the order or making the payment, but are entering into the order for the purposes of ending the litigation.

In addition, Wilbros is relieved of its requirement from the court to have a performance bond and is allowed to receive items like bark and wood chips for the purposes of mixing into existing compost still at the Toccoa site as part of the order.

Overall, Stephens County Commission Chairman Dennis Bell said he and the board are pleased with the result.

Bell said the success was due to a team effort.

“We remained committed to causing the odors from Wilbros to be abated and I am thankful for the community partners that helped us make all this happen, working together,” said Bell. “I am very happy to know that Wilbros is prohibited from the activities that caused these odors, so going forward the citizens are protected from this point on with this situation.”

Ranck also credited the efforts of a lot of people with bringing this to an end.

“I want to say a special ‘thank you’ to Don Stack and the attorneys that work with his firm,” said Ranck. “They were obviously instrumental in the process. Their expertise and their work as lawyers was amazing. I think the Stephens County Board of Commissioners deserves some debt of gratitude for their consistent approach, their unwavering support of what was necessary to abate the odors and help the citizens. I want to thank everyone who assisted, the other attorneys for the other governmental entities that were involved. We want to thank the community for a community effort to bring this to a successful resolution.”

Bell also thanked Ranck for his hard work throughout the case on behalf of the county.