Clark County sues Huber Heights over services near site of planned Buc-ee’s

HUBER HEIGHTS — The Board of Clark County Commissioners is suing the City of Huber Heights over service contracts near the area of a proposed Buc-ee’s.

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The board claims that Huber Heights’ wastewater treatment services contract with the City of Fairborn might violate two similar contracts that the city has with Clark County.

News Center 7 will have more on this ongoing legal battle tonight on News Center 7 starting at 5 p.m.

In the complaint for declaratory judgment filed in the civil division of Clark County Common Pleas Court in late July, the board asks the court to determine “the rights and obligations of the parties under the terms of these contracts.”

Court records indicate that Huber Heights and Clark County entered into two separate agreements, one in 1988 and another in 1995, to provide water and sewer services to two portions of the city. Both contacts had initial terms of 20 years and have both been renewed once.

According to the 1988 agreement, the city was granted access to the county’s Southwest Sewage Treatment Plant System to service the area near the Interstate 70 and State Route 235 interchange. The contract in 1995 extended the service area.

As News Center 7 previously reported, Buc-ee’s representatives laid out plans to put their first Ohio location in the area near the interchange.

Now, the county claims that a 20-year agreement Huber Heights entered into with Fairborn in 2022, which “granted Huber Heights the privilege of connecting to Fairborn’s Wastewater Treatment Plant System,” conflicts with the area serviced by the county.

The county claims in the complaint that due to their existing contracts, the “county has sole right and authority to operate water and sewer in the service areas relevant to the respective agreements unless and until they expire.”

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In a December 2022 letter, Huber Heights law director Gerlad L. McDonald noted the city doesn’t have “contractual obligations” to use the county for utility service. Still, the complaint notes that the city has chosen to connect and is currently using the county to “provide sewer and water service to the areas in question.”

In a counterclaim filed in August, Huber Heights stated the city and county entered into a “Memorandum and Understanding” in 1997. That stated that the businesses “already located in the service area covered by the October 17, 1995 agreement would have the election to connect to Clark County utilities, memorializing that Clark County was not an exclusive provider in the service area.”

The city further claimed that the county breached its contract in 2021 and is asking for damages “reasonably believed to exceed $25,000.”

The county filed a response earlier this month, asking the court to dismiss the counterclaim.

It’s currently unknown if this legal battle will impact any development on the site.

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