JEFFERSON - - The Ashtabula County commissioners have filed for a temporary restraining order to prevent Ashtabula city officials from terminating the 31-year-old joint regional sewer agreement between them.

Acting on behalf of the Ashtabula County commissioners, County Prosecutor Thomas Sartini filed for a preliminary injunction Tuesday in Ashtabula County Common Pleas Court. Sartini is seeking permanent relief for the commissioners, which would force the city to continue treating sewage from county residents until the sewer pact is lawfully terminated by mutual agreement.

The case first was assigned to Judge Alfred Mackey, who recused himself because he was a city council member during some of the time the agreement was in force. The case was reassigned to Judge Gary Yost. A hearing on the preliminary injunction is set for 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Named as defendants in the lawsuit are City Manager Anthony Cantagallo and City Council members Robert E. Beacom, Josephine Misener, James Paulchel, Betty Kist, Julie Latimer, Christopher McClure and Matthew Perry.

On May 7, the council took action by ordinance to terminate the sewer pact with the county. The open-ended agreement had no actual termination date when it was established in 1976.

Sartini said both sides still could sit down and talk about the issues, even while the lawsuit is pending.

"We should be talking, even today. Cooler heads need to prevail," the prosecutor said.

Under terms of the long-standing agreement, the city treats sewage from 3,500 county customers at it's sewage treatment plant.

Negotiations to amend the current agreement have been stalled since July 2006. Until the agreement is amended, the commissioners have been withholding $800,000, which represents the county's 20 percent contribution to the city's $4 million equalization basin, which is being built in Ashtabula Harbor. In addition, city officials do not like the fact city and county customers are paying the same sewer rates.

City officials, in terminating the existing agreement, which has been amended four times since 1976, want to annex land, according to Cantagallo, based on the Bakies v. Perrysburg lawsuit decided by the Ohio Supreme Court in April 2006. Last week, Cantagallo said the city is landlocked; also, the existing sewer treatment pact is not in the city's best interest, according to the city manager.

Talks broke down between the parties earlier this year when commissioners opposed amending the contract in a way that would allow the city to annex land in adjacent townships served by the county's sewer lines. Portions of Saybrook, Plymouth and Ashtabula townships are served by the county's sewer lines, which send waste to the city's plant for treatment.

In a May 7 letter to the county, Cantagallo indicated the city would continue to treat sewage conveyed to the city's sewer treatment plant "for a fee structure to be determined by the city."

Sartini, in his 30-plus-page lawsuit, contends that the plaintiffs (commissioners) "will suffer immediate and irreparable harm injury, loss and damage unless the city is restrained and enjoined from it's illegal, unilateral, arbitrary and unreasonable termination of the agreement."

"The county and affected townships believe that the termination letter received by the county on May 7, 2007, attempting to terminate the agreement effective immediately, is contrary to the law set forth by the Supreme Court of Ohio," Sartini said. "The county seeks to continue it's long-term relationship with the city on an amicable basis that will benefit the interests of the citizens of Ashtabula City, as well as those of Ashtabula County as a whole," he said.

The prosecutor said the Ohio Supreme Court decision in the Perrysburg case allows for a "reasonable notice of termination" of the contract.