A contempt hearing regarding long-running concerns about the Ironwood property south of Dolores has been delayed.
On Monday, District Judge Wiliam Furse postponed the hearing because of a technicality.
Montezuma County and the state of Colorado had sought to hold Ironwood, majority owner Mark Hartman, and Kenneth Bentley in punitive contempt.
The county and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment filed suit against Ironwood Group, LLC, in 2022 over concerns about huge wood piles on the property of the former mill.
In February of this year, the contempt citation was filed because the wood chips hadn’t been removed.
But, as county attorney Stephen Tarnowski told the county commissioners on Tuesday, the property consists of two parcels. However, an order issued in 2023 about mitigating fire danger posted by the piles lists the business address, not the address with the wood piles on it.
“The defendants raised the issue that it’s not clear beyond a reasonable doubt that the order requires removal from the larger parcel, which is the one with the waste on it,” Tarnowski told the commissioners. “It’s really a technicality, but that’s one of the elements for this kind of an issue.”
The defense asked for the contempt case to be dismissed, but Furse said no to that. The plaintiffs then amended the citation to list both addresses. The case is now set for a setting and status conference on Aug. 17.
At their meeting Tuesday, the commissioners had an executive session to receive legal advice about the case.
