Bartholomew County prepares to fight human waste lawsuit

Bartholomew County Commissioners are gearing up to fight a lawsuit over the county’s ordinance that bans the importing of processed human waste into the community.

At yesterday’s County Commissioners meeting, the county agreed to engage the law firm of Faegre, Drinker, Biddle and Reath at a cost of an average of $480 per hour and up to $800 per hour. According to county attorney Jim Shoaf, the county is being sued by the company Biocycle which hoped to import the waste to the county.

Shoaf said that the county has until Friday to submit a location where the case could be heard and a judge to hear the case. That comes after Judge Kelly Benjamin recused herself.

He has recommended that the county defend against the lawsuit to the full extent of the law and that the county engage the Indianapolis firm because of their expertise.

Last year, the county put into effect new ordinances regulating the bio-solids including restricting the importing of the material, that is extracted from sewage at wastewater treatment facilities and used as a fertilizer.

At the time, county commissioners said that they trust the safety of the material generated and processed here in the county, but they had concerns about the safety and sanitation processes happening on the waste coming from other communities.

Evan and Jim Daily, who are affiliated with Biocycle, spoke out against the proposed rule at the time, saying that the materials are safe and highly regulated.