COUNTY OF VERMILION,
ILLINOIS,
—vs—
Complainant,
VILLAGE OF TILTON,
Respondent.
ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
AC No.
04—22
County File No.
03—03
CLERK’S OFFICE
OCT
1 ~2OC~
STATE
OF ~LUNO~S
poltution Contro’ Board
RESPONDENT
VILLAGE
OF
TILTON
BRIEF
Now
comes
the
Respondent,
VILLAGE
OF
TILTON,
by
John
F.
Martin
of
Meachum
&
Martin,
and
in
support
of
its
position
relative
to
the
Complaint
filed
in
this
case
submits
the
following Memorandum:
I.
THE VILLAGE DID NOT CONDUCT OPEN DUMPING
AND OPEN BURNING IN VIOLATION OF THE ACT.
The
charge
in
this
case
is
violated
Section
21(P) (3)
of
Protection
Act.
415
5/21(P) (3).
evidence
presented
at
the
hearing
the village did not violate the Act
that
the
Village
of
Tilton
the
Illinois
Environmental
The village
submits
that
the
on
the
Complaint
shows
that
1
At
the
hearing
two
witnesses
testified,
Doug
Toole,
a
health
inspector
with
the
Vermilion
County
Health
Department,
and Mayor David Jones,
the Mayor of the Village of Tilton.
Doug Toole testified that the property
in question
is owned
by Mildred Butler
and
is
located
at
the corner of
15th and
1st
Street
in
Tilton,
Illinois.
(p.
7)
In
June
of
2003
he
had
contacted
Mildred
Butler
about
tires,
truck
trailers,
derelict
building
and
other
refuse
on
the
property
and had
given
her
a
compliance
date.
(p.
7)
Toole’s next visit
to the site was on August
25,
2003.
(p.
7)
He
testified he saw
a pile
of branches,
brush,
scrap metal,
demolition
debris,
and
rims
and
steel
belts
from
tires
which
were smoldering.
(p.
8)
Toole had previously talked
to Mayor Phillips
in July,
2003
and
the
mayor
told
him
that
the
village
did
not
own
the
property, but had an option to purchase the property.
(p.
11)
On
the
following
day,
August
26,
he
talked
with
Mayor
Phillips
on
the
telephone.
The
mayor
told
him
that
village
workers had burned some brush and other items.
(pgs.
12-13)
On
cross
examination
Toole
said that the property had been
owned
by
the
Butlers
for many
years
and
there
had
previously
been
a drive—in theater
on that site operated by them.
(p.
13)
Photographs
which
Toole
took
and
identified
at
the
hearing
showed
the
site
with
a
trailer
and
a
bunch
of
tires,
a
2
dilapidated
house,
and
a
second
trailer
and
other
debris.
(Exhibits
4
&
5;
p.
16)
Toole
also
testified that
the building had been
used
as
a
“haunted house” on Halloween on a couple of occasions.
(p.
16)
Toole had received
an
anonymous
complaint
on June
4,
2003,
about the premises.
His notes
show that he went to the site and
saw
tires,
a
deteriorating
house,
a
semi
truck
trailer,
a
camper,
scrap
metal,
and
other
refuse.
(p.
17)
He
sent
a
letter
to
Mildred Butler
who was the
owner
and still
is
to his
knowledge.
(p.
17)
Toole
spoke with Mayor
Phillips
on
July
7,
2003,
by phone
and the mayor
said
that
he
was trying
to get Thomas Excavating
to help
in cleaning the place
up.
(p.
18)
Toole
does
not know
if
the village
took anything
to
the property to
dump there
nor
does
he
know who may have
piled
up
items
besides
the brush
on
the site.
(p.
18)
His testimony on this was as follows:
Q:
You have no--no evidence,
no information
that the village put anything on that
property,
correct?
A:
I don’t have any evidence to that,
no.
Q:
As far
as who may have piled up items
besides brush,
you don’t know who piled
that up,
do you?
A:
No.
(p.
18)
(emphasis added)
3
Toole
did not
talk
with
the
owner,
Mildred
Butler,
until
October
1,
at
which
time
she
said
the
village
had
been
doing
some
clean
up.
(p.
19)
Toole
went
to
the site
on
October
17,
2003,
and
the
site
had been
cleaned
and
the
tires
were
gone,
some
of the trailers
were gone,
a
pile
that
had been there
was
gone,
and other material had also been removed.
(p.
19)
Toole testified that
on his visit
of June
25 there
was not
a pile
of material
on the property,
but admitted
in one
of his
photos
taken
in
June
of
2003
it
shows
a
pile
of debris
in
the
background.
(Exhibit
6;
pgs.
20—21)
Mayor
David
Phillips
testified
that
he
has been
the mayor
of
the Village
of
Tilton
for
3
1/2
years
and has
lived
in
the
village
all of his
life.
(pgs.
22-23)
The Butler property has
been used id the past
as
an
entrance
to
a drive—in
theater and
for
a
haunted
house.
The property
has been
in
the conditions
shown
in
the photographic
exhibits
with
the
haunted
house
and
trailers
and
other
items
as
long
as
Butler
has
owned
the
property.
(p.
23)
The
village
does
have
an
option
to
purchase
the
property
and
is
trying
to
get
a
development
on
that
property
if
they
could find
a developer.
(p.
24)
The village
did not put any of
the materials
on
the
site,
nor did the village ever dump anything on the site.
(p.
24)
4
The village
proceeded to plow up fencerows
so that the area
could
be
mowed
and
cut
up
several
semi
tractor
trailers
which
was
taken
to
a
scrap
yard
in
Hegeler,
Illinois.
(p.
25)
The
village also arranged for Coultas Recycling to cut the tires off
of
the rims
and remove
them
from the property.
(p.
25)
There
were
53
tires
that
were
removed.
The village
has
spent
about
$7,000 on that site trying to clean it up.
(p.
26)
The property
is
adjacent
to
a
former
Daniels
school
site
and the village
has
spent
a
total
of
$225,000
cleaning
up
the
school
site and the Butler site
including asbestos removal.
(p.
26)
As
far
as
burning
items
the
village
took
down
trees
and
brush and a wooden fence and that was burned by the village fire
department.
(p.
27)
The village
did not stack
up any pile
of
debris.
(p.27)
Three
semi
loads
of materials
from the site was removed
to
the
local
landfill
and
Thomas
Excavating
assisted
with
that.
(pgs.
27—28)
In addition,
by the October
17,
2003,
date
the village
had
removed
a waste pile that had been on the property.
(p.
28)
There
was
load
after
load
of
materials
including
barrels
from inside
a trailer that was hauled off by the village.
(pgs.
28—29)
The village
is currently trying
to
make arrangements
to
5
remove the house and trailer that remains
on the premises
and is
shown in Exhibits
1 and 2.
(p.
29)
When
West
Nile
virus
became
an
issue
the
village
started
receiving complaints about the tires laying around the property.
(p.
30)
The
Tilton
Fire
Department
burned
a
brush
pile
and
not
other debris.
(p.
32)
At
the conclusion
of the hearing the hearing officer found
both witnesses to be “credible.”
(p.
37)
Discussion.
The evidence at the hearing does not show that
the village violated the Act.
The evidence
showed that
a great
deal of
junk,
trailers,
tires and debris were on the site
for
a
long period of
time.
The village’s actions were
to clean up the
site
and
it
removed
large
quantities
of
waste
material
to
the
local landfill as well as
a recycling center.
The
village
cut
down
trees
and brush
and burned
that
on
Wednesday,
August
19,
2003.
The
visit
by
Doug
Toole
was
six
days
later
on August
25,
2003,
at
which
time
he
saw
materials
besides
brush
on
a
smoldering pile.
Both from the testimony and the photographs
it
is
obvious
that
the
area
is
open
and
easily
accessible
to
anyone.
There
is
no
evidence
from
Toole
or
from
any
other
source
that
indicates
that
it
was
the
Village
of
Tilton
that
piled up and burned debris
other than brush.
The village denies
6
it
burned
anything
other
than
brush
and
there
is
no
evidence
contradicting that testimony.
If
in
fact
there
was
other
debris
on
a
pile
on
the
property,
this
could easily have been placed by Mildred Butler,
someone acting in her behalf,
or anyone else for that matter.
The
case
cited
by
the
county,
Environmental
Protection
Agency
v.
the
Pollution
Control
Board,
219
Ill.App.3d
975,
579
N.E.2d
1215
(5t~~
Dist.
1991)
is
not on point.
In
Environmental
Protection
Agency,
the
facts
of
the case
were
“not
in
dispute”
that
the
respondent
in
that
case
demolished
two
buildings,
stacked the debris
on the site,
and set
it
on
fire.
579 N.E.2d
at
1216.
As the Appellate Court noted:
At the hearing, Vander did not deny
setting fire to the debris,
nor did
he deny knowing that open burning
was unlawful.
579 N.E.2d at 1216.
In
the
instant
case
the
facts
established
are
that
the
village burned brush and hauled off other materials
to
the local
landfill or a recycling center.
Consequently
the
evidence
shows
that
the
village
did
not
violate
Section
21(P) (3)
and that
it was not causing or
allowing
open dumping and open burning of waste.
415 ILCS 5/21 (P)
(3)
7
CONCLUSION
Respondent Village
of Tilton requests that the Complaint be
denied and the village be found
to not have been
in violation of
the Act.
In
the
alternative,
the
village
submits
that
the
Board
should
find
that
any
claimed
violation
resulted
from
uncontrollable
circumstances
and
find
no
violation
and
no
penalty.
415 ILCS 5/31.1(D) (2).
Respectfully submitted,
VILLAGE OF TILTON,
Respondent
::~
~~k1
JOHN F.~MARTIN
Li
JOHN
F. MARTIN
MEACHUM
& MARTIN
110 N. VERMILION
DANVILLE,
IL
61832
PHONE:
217/442—1390
8
CERTIFICATE OF MAILING
The undersigned hereby certifies that he served the
foregoing on:
Jennifer Riggs
Assistant State’s Attorney
Vermilion County Courthouse
7 N. Vermilion
Danville,
IL
61832
by depositing said copy in the United States mail in Danville,
Illinois on this 13th day of October,
2004,
enclosed in an
envelope, plainly addressed to the respective addressee
shown
above with postage duly affixed and prepaid.
DATE:
October
13,
2004.
MEACHUM & MARTIN
BY:
~
/~OHNF. MARTI~9~)
JOHN F. MARTIN
MEACHUM & MARTIN
110 N. VERMILION
DANVILLE,
IL
61832
PHONE:
217/442—1390
