Two more lawsuits have been filed against Cass County concerning how matters were handled for the proposed Waelz Sustainable Products [WSP] zinc reclamation plant.
Both of these are related to the Sept. 18 Cass County Council meeting and claim violations of open door laws that allow citizens to see what happens in government and participate.
Both name the seven members of the council as the defendants, and one names the members of the Cass County Redevelopment Commission, too.
The suits also concern the bond issues both municipal bodies passed for the WSP project.
A Tax Increment Financing bond for $17 million would go towards site improvements with an increase in property taxes from development paying off those bonds, and a conduit bond for up to $70 million would allow WSP to use Cass’s borrowing power to get lower interest rates for construction.
Cass will not be held responsible for paying off those bonds.
One of the named plaintiffs is married to County Councilman David Redweik, and he’s included in both suits.
“Although both [suits] have Lora Redweik as a plaintiff, they are class action in nature by way of alleging violations of the Indiana Open Door Law,” stated attorney John Schwarz, who filed the suits.
The suits also name Council President Michael Stadjuhar, although he and Councilman Redweik had voted against the bond issues Sept. 18 while the other members voted in favor.
The council had originally tabled the bond votes at its Aug. 22 meeting, sending them back to the redevelopment commission and directing WSP and the Cass County Citizens Coalition, a group against the plant with Lora Redweik as a member, to negotiate on the group’s concerns about pollution from the WSP plant.
The lawsuit against the council only alleges its members violated the Indiana Open Door Law by taking steps to limit the number of Cass County residents who could attend.
“In fact, they let in people early, ahead of the citizens,” Schwarz said.
The suit states that the county opened the Cass County Government Building to let in people associated with WSP and with a contracting company associated with the project.
The suit states it was a premeditated attempt to limit the number of citizens and input at the meeting.
“This, as well as other deficiencies, led to only 55 members of the public being able to attend and excluded hundreds of citizens from participating,” it states.
Eric Ott, president of Dilling Construction, spoke in favor of the plant at the meeting and said it would bring construction jobs for his firm.
The lawsuit against both of the governing bodies concerns a “WSP incentive committee” formed from members of the council and redevelopment commission that met in secret with WSP officials, according to Schwarz.
“A committee is subject to the open door law in Indiana,” Schwarz said.
But they gave no legal notice of meetings and had meetings not open to the public when it met in secret with WSP, excluding citizens, Schwarz said.
The committee was also not officially created at any public meeting, he added.
He described it as an end run around CCCC giving public input with the recommendations made to the council.
Members of CCCC told the council members before the bonds vote that some recommendations were good, but they had a ways to go.
This puts the number of lawsuits related top WSP at five, according to Schwarz.
The others are for violations of the open door laws when creating incentives for WSP, for selling 54 acres to WSP for $10 and for creation of a separate Tax Increment Financing district off the Cass County Agribusiness Park for WSP.
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