Anthony ? The Harper County Commission has reversed itself a second time and decided against appealing a court ruling that halted development of a landfill.

Commissioners initially decided against joining the appeal but reversed the decision in August after a weekend visit by a vice president from California-based Waste Connections Inc. On Monday, commissioners changed their minds again, voting 2-1 to withdraw their support of the appeal.

Waste Connections already had started work on the landfill — designed to handle about 2,000 tons of garbage from Wichita every day — when Harper County Judge Robert Schmisseur ruled in July that the County Commission did not act properly when zoning the site.

The judge’s decision also was a reversal from an earlier ruling. Schmisseur changed his mind after new evidence became known. That evidence included a contract the county signed with a Kansas City law firm to negotiate the landfill agreement with Waste Connections. The contract was signed six months before the zoning hearing.

Commissioner Bill McIntyre said the decision not to be involved in the appeal was not a vote against the landfill. McIntyre said that the landfill issue had divided the county and that he hoped Monday’s vote would begin to “heal our county.”

“Let the court decide,” McIntyre said, “and let Harper County deal with the internal issues.”

Commissioner Robert Sharp, a landfill supporter, called the vote potentially “the saddest, blackest day in Harper County history.

“I hope I am wrong, but (Monday’s) vote has the potential of costing Harper County millions and millions of dollars in economic development, in benefits from the landfill, in many areas at a time when I don’t know how the county could be more economically depressed.”

The Harper County commissioners initially hailed the landfill as a means of producing revenue. Waste Connections, the largest trash company serving Wichita, ships the bulk of the city’s trash 150 miles to a landfill near Meno, Okla. The company pushed for a landfill in Harper County because it would cut shipping costs.