The Missouri Department of Natural Resources will meet with the public in two weeks to discuss possible water-quality improvements to a livestock market in Gallatin, Mo.

The Gallatin Livestock Auction and its manager, Danny Froman, are currently defendants in a lawsuit the state has filed over alleged clean water violations. The lawsuit also alleges the business failed to prevent animal waste runoff from contaminating local streams.

The meeting is set for 5:30 to 8 p.m. Sept. 3, in the commons area of the Gallatin R-5 High School, 602 South Olive St. Department staff will present information and answer questions on proposed improvements at the auction.

The meeting is being held due to local public interest in the auction, the DNR said Friday.

“The facility has developed a nutrient management plan and has

proposed site improvements designed to prevent discharges of manure to nearby streams,” department officials said in a release.

The lawsuit, filed in July, seeks a petition for preliminary and permanent injunctions, civil penalties and breach of contract. The Missouri Clean Water Commission is named as one of the plaintiffs.

Problems at the auction began to surface in mid-2007, when West Side Gallatin neighbors began to complain of waste runoff into their ponds that caused fish kills. Mr. Froman agreed then to gradually install devices and take other measures to funnel away and contain the waste.

The lawsuit said the state received a complaint in March 2007 of storm water runoff causing downstream pollution. Investigations revealed the discharges were entering a tributary of the Grand River.

Inspectors determined that June that holding pens had not been taken out of service and that vegetation was not planted to help control the runoff, as ordered by the state.

Gallatin attorney Michael Dean Arnold is representing Mr. Froman in the lawsuit.

Ray Scherer can be reached

at rscherer@npgco.com.