Fiscal Note
This resolution provides for the expenditure of up to $150,000 in Landfill Remediation Fees for the purpose of funding certain landfill-related legal fees and costs. Sufficient Landfill Remediation Fee funds are currently available for this purpose, and the costs may eventually be recovered as a result of future litigation. There is no appropriation required, nor is any impact upon cost controls anticipated.
Title
Retaining Attorney Ronald Ragatz and DeWitt, Ross & Stevens, S.C. for landfill remediation work and amending the 2005 Engineering Division Operating Budget to allow for the expenditure of $150,000 in related legal fees and costs.
Body
PREAMBLE
The City of Madison operated six landfill sites for disposal of municipal and private solid waste for a number of years. Environmental problems related to the sites required the City to investigate and initiate remediation actions. Depending on what costs are included, the City's costs for remediation and continued operation at the sites are in excess of $25 million. In addition, the City issued sewer utility revenue bonds to pay for some of the costs of remediation.
While the City had insurance policies in place for portions of the time at issue, the City never brought suit on those policies due to the Supreme Court decision in City of Edgerton v. General Casualty Company, 184 Wis. 2d. 750, 517 N.W.2d. 463 (1994). This decision, issued in 1994, explicitly held that claims were not allowed under the City's general liability policies for the type of environmental remediation costs at issue.
After the City of Edgerton decision, the City issued sewer utility revenue bonds to pay for landfill remediation costs. A charge for landfill remediation, to pay off these bonds, is included in sewer bills.
In mid-2003, the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned the Edgerton decision in Johnson Controls, Inc. v. Employers Ins. of Wausau, 2003 WI 108, 665 N.W.2d. 257 (1993).
Since that time, the City...
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