Aug. 28--The city of Jeffersonville is crafting a response to a lawsuit filed against it earlier this month by Environmental Management Co., which operates the city's sewer plant.

The suit alleges that the city is violating an agreement by attempting to terminate a 2004 contract that makes EMC the sewer-plant operators.

Since last spring, Mayor Tom Galligan and other city officials exerted their intentions to replace EMC workers with city employees. Additionally, Jeffersonville Sewer Board Attorney Scott Lewis sent a letter Aug. 7 notifying the company of its intentions to terminate the agreement, based on alleged failures on the part of EMC to provide specific records, reports and documentation.

"At this time, we don't have any comment because it's pending litigation," Lewis said Wednesday.

"We are still formulating our response."

A message left for attorney Greg Fifer, who is representing the company locally, was not returned.

Galligan said the lawsuit was not unexpected.

He wants to terminate the contract ahead of schedule because of problems at the plant and continued pressure from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean up sewer overflow problems.

"There's a whole long laundry list of things they're not doing," Galligan said.

"The maintenance out there is horrendous. The house cleaning is terrible. They got safety problems," he said.

Galligan said the likely response to the suit would be that EMC hasn't performed the duties for which they were contracted.

In the suit, EMC denies that Jeffersonville is entitled to unilaterally terminate the agreement.

It also says that the city has asked EMC employees to submit applications to become city employees.

The company seeks a declaration from the court that it is not in breach of the agreement as the city has alleged.

EMC has been administering the plant since the early 1990s. The company's contract expires in 2010.

Galligan said that people have been interviewed by the city for jobs at the sewer plant, but that no one has been hired.

The last contract extension was signed before Galligan came into office.

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