A Seneca County judge has dismissed three counts of a lawsuit that WIN Waste Innovations of Seneca County filed against the county Board of Health, narrowing a legal fight over the Fostoria landfill’s operating license.
The Seneca County Common Pleas Court granted the board’s motion to dismiss counts two through four of WIN Waste’s complaint, which alleged the board violated Ohio’s Open Meetings Act, according to a June 15 news release from the Seneca County General Health District. The court found the company failed to state a claim that the board broke the law as alleged in those counts.
A remaining count was not part of the board’s motion and will be decided later, the district said.
The court’s journal entry noted that the case is one of seven filed by or involving WIN Waste over the board’s decisions on the landfill’s license.
“We’re gratified that our local court followed the law and granted the motion to dismiss,” Board of Health President Clay Wolph said in the release. “The landfill is forcing the Board to spend taxpayer funds to fight in court. Still, we have and will continue to keep the health and safety of our communities at the forefront when making decisions.”
WIN Waste pushed back in a statement, rejecting the board’s framing of the litigation’s cost to taxpayers. While the company said it sued to ensure government transparency, the court observed that it waited two years after the first alleged violation to file and initially sought a civil penalty of $500 for each of 88 separate alleged Open Meetings Act violations.
“We find it ironic that the Seneca County General Health District has suddenly discovered a concern for taxpayer dollars. We pay millions in fees that are specifically designed to fund legitimate regulatory oversight,” the company said. “Instead of working collaboratively with the Ohio EPA and a facility that has operated in compliance for years, the SCGHD has repeatedly attacked both WIN and the Ohio EPA, manufacturing violations that do not exist.”
WIN Waste operates the landfill, formerly known as Sunny Farms, at 12500 W. County Road 18 south of Fostoria. The health district licenses and inspects the site and earlier this year installed two ambient air monitoring stations near the landfill. The two sides have clashed for years over conditions attached to the landfill’s annual operating license, and the county has cited the facility for violations the company contests.
The open-meetings complaint is one front in a wider legal battle that has produced rulings for both sides. In separate proceedings, the state Environmental Review Appeals Commission has found a number of the district’s license conditions unlawful or unreasonable, and the Ohio Supreme Court in 2024 dismissed an earlier WIN Waste challenge as moot. The board, in turn, has voted to appeal the Ohio EPA’s approval of the landfill’s expansion.
