The Second District Appellate Court has sided with DeKalb County in a ruling on the expansion of Waste Management’s Cortland landfill Wednesday.

The decision rejects the arguments put forward by the citizen group Stop the Mega-Dump, whose arguments included a claim that DeKalb County Board members had made up their minds on the expansion before applications had been filed. The group also argued that the County Board had discouraged people from attending County Board meetings during the approval process.

In a Sept. 6 Daily Chronicle article, Dan Kenney, chairman of the Stop the Mega-Dump organization, said he was confident the court would rule that DeKalb County had mishandled its public hearing procedures.

The County Board voted in a May 2010 public hearing to allow the expansion. The oral arguments against the expansion were heard by the court in September.

In a March 27 Northern Star article, Kenney said if the group lost its appeal, the members could bring the case to the Illinois Supreme Court. Cortland will receive $1 million in compensation for expanding the landfill, which could take in garbage from 17 counties, according to the article.