Sibley, Iowa — The Sibley City Council met in closed session Monday afternoon at 5 pm to plan their next move in their effort to force Iowa Drying and Processing to abate the offensive odor that emanates from their Sibley plant.
Nuisance citations were issued to IDP earlier, and on Monday, March 21st a trial on those charges was held, however when Iowa Drying and Processing and their legal counsel failed to appear at that trial, the magistrate listened to the city’s argument, which alleged ten counts of the city’s offensive smells ordinance, and found in favor of the city, ordering IDP to pay nearly $9000 in fines for the smell emanating from their plant..
On March 28th of this year the City Council held a public hearing on the matter, at which time representatives of IDP, as well as the Sibley community, appeared to plead their cases. On March 31st the Council met in closed session to review the evidence presented at the public hearing, and render a judgement. Following that meeting, the Council said they found from the evidence presented at th hearing that the emissions from the IDP property constitute a nuisance under the Sibley City Code, and the Iowa Code, and that those emissions are injurious to health, indecent, or unreasonably offensive to the senses.
The Council’s decision said that they found from the evidence that IDP knew it’s facilities create an unreasonably offensive odor, and that it is a nuisance under the Sibley Code and Iowa law.
As a result, the City of Sibley ordered IDP, and their parent company, ChemSol to deposit $50,000 into an escrow account held by the City of Sibley, which will be used to hire and pay an engineer of the City’s choosing, to study IDP’s operations and make recommendations, and be reasonably used to abate any future nuisances. IDP and ChemSol will be required to deposit the required funds on or before April, 11, 2016.
The April 11th deadline has now come and gone, with no action by IDP. As a result, at Monday’s City Council meeting, the Council authorized City Attorney Harold Dawson to file a petition in District Court seeking an injunction to force IDP to abide by the earlier court order. Dawson told KIWA he expects the petition to be filed as early as Tuesday (April 19th).
