The erosion-control products manufacturer just outside the Mancos town limits pleaded not guilty Monday evening to charges that it violated several town ordinances including air and water pollution.
The company appeared in Mancos Municipal Court on Monday night over the telephone through attorney Jon Kelly. The town of Mancos was represented by attorney David Lieberman, who also phoned in for the arraignment, presided by Judge Scott Moore.
Although Kelly entered a not guilty plea for his client, he alluded to filing motions with the court before the trial starts.
“We will be filing a motion regarding jurisdiction,” Kelly said. “Ninety-five percent of Western Excelsior’s operations are outside the town limits, and that should be addressed before we go to a jury trial.”
Lieberman disagreed, saying, “The violations have occurred in town boundaries.”
At the beginning of the arraignment, Kelly requested a continuation because his client was out of town, but Mancos attorney Lieberman argued against that.
Moore then allowed the plea, but said he had never presided over a municipal jury trial in the case of a corporation that is not facing jail time, only fines.
A jury trial was set for Jan. 12 at 5:30 p.m.
Kelly told Moore to expect a motion to dismiss based on jurisdiction.
Nearly a dozen residents who live near the plant filed into the courtroom and tried to speak, but Moore wouldn’t allow it until sentencing.
The proceedings took about 10 minutes, and the group of residents filed out of the room to discuss their strategies once the arraignment was over.
“I can’t believe we have to wait another two months after two years of this,” said Sherry Romero, who lives near Excelsior.
In September, the Mancos Town Board directed Administrator Andrea Phillips to draft a letter giving Western Excelsior 30 days to clean up its act or be fined. The business can be fined up to $1,000 for each offense.
The court arraignment was the next step in the process that found that Excelsior didn’t clean up its act in those 30 days, according to inspections.
Neighbors complain that it is difficult to go outside, and their cars and yards are covered in debris and dust. One neighbor says since living nearby he has developed a persistent cough.
“To ask for a jury trial on basically what is a littering violations, does seem a little out of the ordinary,” said Chip Tuthill, of the Concerned Residents of Riverside.
“If someone took a couch from Cortez and dropped it into the street of Mancos, would that count as littering? Yes,” he said. “That is basically what they are saying, that because they are not in the town limits, their littering does not count.”
