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hearing before the Boazd "shall be held." 1n a civil action, once the complaint and answer have <br />been filed with the court, the plaintiff cannot simply terminate the proceedings on its own <br />motion. Rather, the plaintiff must ask the court's permission through a motion to dismiss or <br />some other avenue. Once the court hasjurisdiction, only the court may terminate the litigation, <br />regazdless of the negotiations between the parties. There is no sensible reason for this Court to <br />find that the situation should be different before the Boazd where the Boazd's adjudicatory <br />jurisdiction over a notice of violation has been invoked by a request for hearing. <br />In the current matter, Basin requested a hearing on the NOV thirteen days after the <br />Division issued the NOV. At that time the Board had jurisdiction over the final adjudication of <br />the NOV. On February 12, 2001, the Plaintiffs acknowledged the Boazd's jurisdiction by <br />moving the Boazd for permission to intervene in the NOV hearing. At no time was there a <br />settlement of the facts of the NOV; Basin has contested the NOV since it requested a hearing on <br />November 13, 2000. On Mazch 12, 2001, the Division vacated the NOV without prejudice, at <br />the request of the Plaintiffs, without moving for a dismissal before the Board or seeking the <br />Boazd's approval in any way. The Division's action alone gives rise to the question the Board <br />asked itself during its Mazch 21, 2001, hearing: if the Board has jurisdiction over the NOV, how <br />can the Division unilaterally vacate the NOV and terminate the Board's jurisdiction? The <br />Boazd's answer to that question, based on its analysis of the statutes set forth above, was that the <br />Division had exceeded its implied authority and that the NOV should be reinstated and scheduled <br />for hearing. The Boazd merely interpreted its own ambiguous organic statute in a reasonable <br />way that is clearly permissible under the statute. Such an interpretation should not only be <br />14 <br />