VIDALIA — The Town of Vidalia is suing a Vidalia rubber recycling company, seeking $700,000 reportedly owed to the town and a state agency.

In the lawsuit, filed Monday in the Seventh Judicial District Court in Concordia Parish, the town alleges breach of contract by Louisiana Elastomer LLC (LAEL) and the company’s CEO, Michael Wells.

The town is seeking payment for grant funds Vidalia was forced to repay to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality after LAEL failed twice to meet requirements LDEQ set for the funding, court documents show.

Click here for link to court documents

The town partnered with LAEL to receive a $700,000 grant from LDEQ to help pay for construction of the plant, which opened in 2009. The town also donated 25 acres in the industrial park to LAEL for the construction of the plant.

LAEL was to use at least one-third of Louisiana waste tire program eligible tires in its operations and at least 1 million program eligible waste tires after the second year of operation.

In the lawsuit, Vidalia alleges LAEL failed to meet those requirements, and LDEQ extended the agreement twice, lowering the targets LAEL had to meet to 250,000 program eligible tires.

In 2013, when LAEL failed to meet the lower targets, LDEQ terminated the grant, and the $700,000 in grant funds was to be repaid.

Per an agreement between the Vidalia and LAEL, the company was to indemnify the town for liability to repay the grant funds, or essentially any liability at all, “resulting from any breach, violation or non-performance of any covenant or condition … from the use or occupancy of the site by LAEL,” the lawsuit states.

LAEL reportedly made no effort to repay the grant funds, and the lawsuit says the town has been making $15,555 monthly payments that began on Jan. 1, 2015, to repay the funds to LDEQ. The lawsuit also seeks to require LAEL to repay the remaining grant funds to LDEQ.

Vidalia Mayor Buz Craft, who took office in July, said the town “just had to do something.”

“I made a commitment to the people of Vidalia,” he said. “I’m not just going to sit back and let it be business as usual, and let people take advantage of our town. I don’t see (how) we could continue to allow this to happen when we’re spending the people’s money for (LAEL) to stay in business. … It’s just not acceptable, and I’m not going to allow it to continue.”