City Successful In Court On Waste Water Treatment Plant Issues

Salisbury Mayor James Ireton, Jr. announced today that the City‘s motion, which will permit its suit against the engineering firm that designed the recent improvements to the Salisbury Waste Water Treatment Plant to be filed in Wicomico County Circuit Court, was granted. This decision by Federal Circuit Court Judge Legg had been pending since September when the City filed its motion to dismiss the suit from Federal Court in Baltimore and file it in Wicomico County. “This is a significant step in this lawsuit,” states Mayor Ireton. “It will be less expensive to try this suit in the Circuit Court for Wicomico County than would have been the case if we had to try the case in Baltimore. This decision also allows the suit to proceed now that we know in which court it will be tried.”

The City has sued O’Brien and Gere, the engineering firm that designed the improvements to the wastewater treatment plant that were intended to enable the plant to meet new environmental standards. These improvements have not worked as intended and, as a result, the plant has not operated as required by the Maryland Department of the Environment. The City is also suing Construction Dynamics Group, Inc., the construction manager on the project.

In a related matter, the City was also successful in being granted a stay in its law suit against MDE pertaining to a Consent Judgment issued against the City. This stay, which was granted by Circuit Court Judge Newton Jackson, will permit the City and MDE to continue to work out the terms of an amended Consent Judgment pertaining to the construction of improvements at the waste water treatment plant which are intended to bring the plant into compliance with environmental requirements. “We are grateful that the Court has granted this stay”, said Mayor Ireton. “We are awaiting a draft Consent Judgment from MDE and we will need this additional time to ensure that the Consent Judgment is fair to the City. We are grateful to MDE for joining us in requesting this stay. This is another indication of our developing partnership with MDE.”

For further information, please contact Paul Wilber, City Attorney 410-742-3176