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LISBON -- County commissioners held a rare emergency meeting on Friday to hire a bankruptcy attorney to protect their interest at a surprise bankruptcy hearing involving a pipeline company that owes the county $262,980 in back taxes.
County Treasurer Linda Bolon asked for the emergency meeting after receiving a fax late Thursday afternoon from the Cobra Pipeline Co. advising her of a debtor's emergency hearing scheduled for noon Monday in federal bankruptcy court. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy the day before.
Assistant County Prosecutor Krista Peddicord recommended they hire a bankruptcy lawyer because it is a very specialized field of law and she does not have the background or experience to represent the county.
Commissioners then voted to give Bolon the authority to find a law firm to represent the county at Monday's hearing. Bolon said after the meeting she intends to contact the bankruptcy law firm of Brouse & McDowell, which has offices in Canton, Akron and Cleveland, because they have represented other counties under similar circumstances.
Bolon is expected to return to commissioners with a contract for them to approve. Commissioner Mike Halleck said he wants to keep a close watch on legal fees because these cases tend to drag on for years, and he does not want to end up spending $250,000 in attorney fees if they are going to just break even or lose money in the end.
Commissioner Jim Hoppel agreed, saying they can make a decision whether to go any further with the law firm once they get an idea from them how much of the delinquent taxes the county can expect to recover.
Cobra Pipeline is based in Willoughby and operates natural gas compression and storage facilities and 300 miles of intrastate pipeline within Ohio. The utility taxes are owed the treasurer's office for the portions of the company's infrastructure located in Butler and Knox townships in the northwest part of the county.
Commissioner Tim Weigle did some digging and determined Cobra has an underground gas storage reservoir in that area. A pipeline runs from the reservoir along Georgetown-Damascus Road to just south of Misty Morning Lane before heading north across U.S. Route 62 into Mahoning County. He believes Cobra's activity in the county predates the shale gas boom in the area, which began in 2010.
Peddicord said she had been working on taking legal action against Cobra to collect the delinquent taxes, which date back to 2013, when the company filed for bankruptcy protection.
tgiambroni@mojonews.com