Environmental Processing contends the city’s disconnecting it from the wastewater system violates a court order and has asked the judge to review the action.

According to records filed with court, attorney Douglas Summerlin requested that Judge Alonzo Harris schedule a telephone status conference to discuss the issue.

According to usually reliable sources, that conference is scheduled for June 18.

Mayor Bob Morris directed city employees to close EPI’s access last week, after the company did not pay a $22,000 bill the mayor claims EPI owes for work preparatory to installing a metering system as well as legal fees.

He sent EPI owner John Baham the bill on April 27. On May 11, Summerlin responded that the city has no authority to bring EPI into any compliance with the wastewater ordinance because the eompany does not handle industrial waste.

EPI contends that Morris and the city actually owe it about $14,000 as a result of the conflict that has been building for more than a year.

Last September, Harris granted EPI a temporary restraining order , barring Morris or the city from initiating or taking any action to cap, shut off, or in any way terminate EPI’s connection to the wastewater system.

A hearing to make that TRO a preliminary injunction was continued without date in December after Harris ruled the city was entitled to certain documents and information from EPI.

The continuation was to allow both sides the opportunity to expand their discovery to include boundaries re-drawn as a result of that ruling.

The matter has not returned to Harris’ docket since.

But Baham and Morris have engaged on a regular basis, though EPI’s owner was out of town and not present at the June meeting of the City Council.

In April, the city installed a new manhole near EPI’s location north of the city, part of the preparations, Morris said. for installing a metering system, a system Baham says he already has.