By Jeremy Scott
Sumterville
The Sumter County Commission will receive an update about Heart of Florida Landfill tonight, September 22.
The item is marked “For Information Only.”
That is a problem.
On August 25, the Commission told the County Attorney to seek emergency court action against the landfill.
On September 8, the County Attorney said she was waiting for public records.
It is now four weeks after the Board gave that direction. The public still has no case number, court filing, hearing date or filing schedule.
Tonight’s agenda packet does not explain the delay.
Instead, most of the landfill update comes from Waste Connections and its consultant.
Waste Connections says a recent FDEP letter “addresses and resolves” concerns raised in a warning letter.
That does not tell the whole story.
FDEP accepted the landfill’s answers about staffing and possible leachate conditions. But the agency also ordered formal groundwater Evaluation Monitoring.
FDEP set several deadlines:
• Initial groundwater sampling by September 29
• An updated operating plan by October 14
• An updated contamination plan by December 28
The landfill’s consultant said new groundwater wells would be sampled from September 21 through September 25.
That work was still happening during the week of tonight’s meeting.
The groundwater issue is not over.
The packet also says the landfill plans to expand its gas collection system. That work may disturb buried asbestos. The company says it will wet the material, keep it beside the excavation for a short time and then move it to an onsite asbestos disposal area.
These plans deserve careful review.
But none of this answers the main question:
Where is the emergency injunction?
The packet contains no report from the County Attorney about the landfill case.
It does not list the public records that were requested.
It does not say which records have arrived.
It does not explain what records are still missing.
It does not say why those records are needed before a case can be filed.
It does not give the public a filing date.
The landfill item appears under the County Administrator. It does not appear under the County Attorney’s list of legal cases.
For two years, residents have reported bad odors and raised concerns about groundwater, benzene, leachate, landfill gas, outside trash and the proposed deep injection well.
County officials often say that the landfill is inside Bushnell and that FDEP has the main power to regulate it.
But Sumter County sent the landfill a legal warning on April 10. The County discussed an injunction and a public-nuisance case.
Then, on August 25, the Commission directed its attorney to seek emergency relief.
The County cannot claim it has the power to take legal action when making a public threat, then act powerless when residents ask whether the case was filed.
Maybe County leaders are unsure how to move forward.
Maybe they fear a lawsuit from Waste Connections.
Maybe they are giving the company more time to make changes.
Whatever the reason, residents deserve an honest answer.
I cannot prove that Sumter County is trying to protect the landfill.
But the result of this delay is clear.
Waste Connections keeps operating. Residents keep waiting. The company gets to place its message in the County’s agenda packet. The County provides no public report about its promised legal action.
That protects the landfill from being held accountable.
Tonight, commissioners should answer five questions:
- Does the August 25 direction remain active?
- Has the lawsuit or emergency-injunction request been written?
- Which public records are still missing?
- Why does each missing record prevent filing?
- What is the filing date?
If the County Attorney no longer believes the case should be filed, she should say so in public.
If the case is moving forward, the County should give residents a clear timeline.
A packet filled with the landfill company’s explanations is not enough.
The citizens of Sumter County deserve action, answers and representation.
Update — October 29, 2026
This article describes the information available when it was written on September 22. Sumter County subsequently confirmed that it filed a lawsuit against ACMS and Waste Connections on September 22, 2026, alleging nuisance and trespass and seeking relief concerning landfill odors. The case is not an approval or resolution of the separate proposed injection-well issue. At the October 27 commission meeting, officials discussed further legal research and possible action relating to that issue.
Read the October 27 BOCC clarification and October 28 reporting on the lawsuit.
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