Sibley, Iowa — You may remember that the City of Sibley was dealing with an odor problem coming from the Iowa Drying and Processing Plant, and that they filed suit against the firm. The firm also filed a counter suit. Well now both suits have been dismissed.
Both civil cases had been scheduled to go to trial on July 18th, 2017.
The original suit was the City of Sibley versus Iowa Drying and Processing regarding what should be done about the smells that many found offensive coming from the plant. A counter suit was also filed by Iowa Drying and Processing against the City of Sibley, requesting that the court not allow Sibley to continue to cite IDP for nuisance violations.
The City of Sibley had been in an ongoing battle to try to get the odor problem fixed so IDP could continue providing jobs for Sibley residents.
IDP received $150,000 in state economic development funds in October 2012 to start their operations.
Available court records do not indicate the reason that the lawsuits were dismissed. Sibley City Administrator Glenn Anderson, Sibley City Attorney Harold Dawson, and IDP officials were unavailable for comment on Thursday afternoon.
However, attorney Daniel DeKoter, who works with Dawson and was involved in the litigation in this case, says that both parties have decided to “let [the matter] sit for now.” He says the plant is still up for sale. DeKoter says the parties felt that it wasn’t worth spending more money to settle an issue that is “pretty much-taken care of.”
