Between Willard City Council, Trustees from Greenfield, Norwich, New Haven, and Richmond Townships, along with copious constituents, there was nary in an empty seat in Willard’s Council Chambers last Wednesday night.
They were there to discuss, learn about, and ultimately pass legislation for a sewer district between the city and townships.
John Albers from Albers&Albers Law Firm in Columbus was present, as well, and led the discussion. His law firm, he said, represents local governments all over the state on water and sewer projects, and specializes in establishing regional districts.
Albers first explained the purpose, background, and procedure for the project.
The district, proposed to be called “Southern 5 Sewer District,” aims to establish “an economical, feasible, fair and reasonable method to provide sewer services to customers.”
The attorney further stated that the city and townships have been engaging in ongoing discussion on the topic, as well as “studying the sewer needs of their respective areas to meet current and future requirements.” Some of this discussion has involved the “best method for providing sewer services in the future,” to Holdiay Lakes (within Greenfield and Norwich) and Celeryville (within Richmond and New Haven).
Furthermore, officials agree that the district is the most “cost effective method”, as “combining utility services” into one entity achieves “cost efficiencies and economics of scale.”
Albers continued explaining that an engineering study by GRW Engineers Inc previously established that “regionalization using the Willard treatment facility provides a cost savings by avoiding the cost of construction for a new wastewater treatment facility and maintenance and repairs.”
Additionally, there are 1,348 platted lots in Holiday Lakes and the septic systems’ useful life of 30 to 50 years is inadequate to meet the needs of the community. Those failing septic systems and the replacement costs of such systems strongly favors regionalization, the lawyer stated. The sewer district is “best suited to provide such expanded services to meet the needs of current and future customers.”
And the approximate 85 homes in Celeryville also rely upon onsite septic systems. And, like Holiday Lakes, the “useful life” of these systems is inadequate to meet their needs and the replacement costs favors regionalization.
Once the district is created, it will have the ability to eliminate the septic systems and construct the necessary systems for both unincorporated communities, and then transfer the wastewater of the district to the City for treatment at the City’s wastewater treatment plant.
Lastly, Albers reminded attendees of some benefits of regionalization. These include:
Regionalization will serve as a single entity owning, operating, and constructing, future needed facilities, and reduce cost and provide for future growth
The district will qualify as an applicant for grants and low interest loans form the U.S. Government, the State of Ohio, and the OEPA, in order to help finance construction of projects
An efficiently operated and constructed sewer system will promote the safe collection, treatment, and discharge of the district’s wastewater in accordance with OEPA regulations, which will reduce the risks of pollution and unsanitary conditions
Risks and expenses associated with maintaining private sanitary sewer systems for properties that will receive services in the future will be eliminated
Residents will have the opportunity to serve on the district board and will, therefore, have local representation regarding cost, operation, maintenance and expansion of the system
Increase in property values
Moving forward, the city and townships must file a petition in the Huron County Court of Common Pleas and request that the district be organized. Those petitioners are to prepare a plan of operation for the court. This plan will include results of a demographics study and estimated costs.
Finally, once the district is formed, it will become a political subdivision of the State of Ohio and will be empowered to plan, construct, and operate central sewer services, and apply for grant and loan assistance. The district will be governed by a board which will be comprised of five people, appointed by the city and townships.
After this “quick and dirty summary,” Albers opened the floor to public comment.
He was asked if other townships were to join the district would that “dilute the service?” Albers answered, depending on the distance from the district lines, there would have to be some analysis to determine that answer.
Then there was a question of whether or not there had been a study done to prove Willard has the capacity to serve all the townships.
Later, a board member from Holiday Lakes answered the question pretty well. He started by saying roughly 60% of homes in Holiday Lakes are beyond their 30 year expected design life of the septic system and 50% of homes are beyond the 40 year expected life.
Then he spoke on the capacity question a little more: Willard, he said, has the capacity of 7 million gallons of water a day and is currently only using 1.2 millions a day. Holiday Lakes uses an estimated 184,000 gallons a day and with Celryville included, Willard would still only be at 20% capacity.
Albers said there hadn’t been a study, but he believes the city currently has “substantial capacity.” So for each additional community that would apply to join in the future, the city would need to do an analysis and determine whether its feasible to let that community join. “Almost everything having do with a regional district that you’re constructing from the ground up, is phased in.”
It was additionally asked how long the project would ultimately take. Albers says this progression usually goes as such; district established, board appointed, board up and running (with assistance from Albers & Albers), undertake the project which involves: going out for engineering services to design the facilities (after seeking financing for this step), so its difficult to establish a timeline, but construction of facilities will likely take 1-3 years.
Then it was time for the main event: the passing of the ordinances that would start this process once and for all.
After the ordinance was read, Willard Councilman David Saddig motioned to strike the word emergency from the legislation, and Albers was asked if the emergency legislation was necessary. He responded that they could pass it normally, with three readings. The emergency part was just to expedite this process. The votes for Saddig’s motion were tied, and thus it failed, meaning if passed it could do so with this one reading. As for the ordinance itself, all votes––including Saddig’s–-were in favor.
Then it was time for the trustees of New Haven, Richmond, Greenfield, and Norwich to individually pass their own resolutions to authorize for the filing of the petition with Huron County. All four resolutions passed unanimously and without comment.
Thus, the first phase of the Southern 5 Sewer District is in the books.
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