ILLINOIS POLLUPTON
CONTPC)L
BOARD
July 7,
1995
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS,
)
Complainant,
v.
)
PCB 95—158
)
(Enforcement
-
Land)
CITY OF HERRIN,
)
Respondent.
ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by R.C. Flemal):
This matter is before the Board upon the following several
filings,
on June 21, 1995 the City of Herrin
(Herrin) filed a
Notion for Leave to File Pleadings,
accompanied by a Notion
Attacking Jurisdiction and a Motion Attacking the Pleadings.
The
Motion Att~ekingJirri.gdic~tionwa~correctly filed and included an
appropriate certificate of service.
However the Motion Attacking
the Pleadings was not signed and did not include a proper
certificate of service.
An Amended Certificate of Service was
filed on June 22,
1995 which demonstrated appropriate service of
process for both motions.
A signed Motion Attacking the
Pleadings was filed on June 23,
1995.
On June 27, 1995 the People of the State of Illinois
(State)
filed an Amended Notice of Filing and Complainant’s Response to
Notion Attacking Jurisdiction, accompanied with a Certificate of
Service, and a Notice of Filing and Objection to Motion for Leave
to File Pleadings.
The instant order deals with a four count complaint filed on
May 30, 1995 by the State against Herrin.
The Board hereby
grants Herrin’s Motion for Leave to File Pleadings.
In the Motion Attacking the Pleadings, Herrin claims the
State failed to comply with the requirements of Section 31(a)
of
the Environmental Protection Act
(Act).
(415 ILCS 5/31(a).)
Herrin argues that the complaint fails to sufficiently locate the
site of the alleged refuse, allege facts to support the
violations were committed “knowingly and repeatedly”, and vaguely
characterizes the dates of the violations by stating those dates
are “better known only to the city”.
Herrin requests that the
complaint be stricken on grounds that it is indefinite and
ambiguous.
The State asserts that Herrin’s motion attacking the
pleadings
was
at
least
8
days late with no sufficient
explanation.
In addition, the State claims the complaint
satisfies the requirements of proper pleading and points to the
specific paragraphs
in its complaint which support the alleged
4
violations.
The Board finds the complaint is sufficiently definite to
put Herrin on notice of the alleged violations and to prepare a
defense.
The Board hereby denies Herrin’s Motion Attacking the
Pleadings.
Next, Herrin’s Motion Attacking Jurisdiction states that the
Board lacks jurisdiction to entertain the State’s complaint
because the complainant fails to comply with the financing
notification requirement of Section 31(a)
of the Act.
(415 ILCS
5/31(a).)
Section 31(a)
states in pertinent part that the
“complaint shall be accompanied by a notification to the
defendant that financing may be available, through the Illinois
Environmental Facilities Financing Act, to correct such
violation”.
(415
ILCS 5/31(a)(1).)
The State did not include
such financing notification in the original complaint.
The State
asserts that the absence of such notification has resulted in no
harm to Herrin because Herrin’s motion reflects its knowledge of
the financing.
The State’s June 27th Amended Notice of Filing
includes the financing notification.
Specific notice as delineated
in Section 31(d)
is required
in conjunction with serving the complaint on Herrin.
The State
failed to send notice in compliance with Section 31(d)
of the Act
to the City of Herrin in its May 30,
1995 complaint.
The Board nonetheless accepts the State’s June 27, 1995
amended notice of filing and interprets it as an amended
complaint curing the financing notification deficiency. The Board
therefore denies Herrin’s Motion Attacking Jurisdiction.’
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Dorothy N. Gunn,
Clerk ot the Illinois Pollution Control
Board
hereby certif
at the above order was adopted on the
_____
day of
_________________,
1995,
by a vote of
~
Dorothy M.
Illinois P0
On July
6,
1995
lerrin
filed an additional
Motion
Attacking Jurisdiction and a Motion Attacking the Pleadings.
These pleadings are not ripe and are therefore not addressed in
this order.