County to investigate Mt. Union sewer hook-ups

By Brooks Taylor, Mt. Pleasant News

If you own property in Mt. Union and are not hooked up to the city?s sewer system, you could be in big trouble.

Henry County supervisors met with Bruce Hudson, executive director of the Regional Utility Service Systems (RUSS), Jodi Sutter, county environmental specialist, and Darin Stater, county attorney, Wednesday to discuss future action in Mt. Union regarding sewer hook-ups.

Because Mt. Union is no longer an incorporated community, it falls under the county?s jurisdiction (as of Sept. 23) as a rural area of the county. The county has agreed to pay RUSS over $45,000 in delinquent residential sewer bills in Mt. Union and also will pay RUSS monthly sewer bills for Mt. Union customers, beginning in July.

The county will recoup its costs through a special assessment on property taxes, which will be effective with the September 2017 property tax bill.

Hudson told the supervisors yesterday that there are a number of properties in Mt. Union that should be but are not hooked up to the municipal sewer system. Pressed for a number, Hudson said he didn?t have a definitive number.

It is questionable however, Hudson added, whether some of those properties are inhabitable.

State law says that if the dwelling (not property line) is within 200 feet of a sewer pod, it must be connected to the sewer, Stater remarked. ?There are no exceptions,? he added.

Hudson said the property owner would bear the expense of having a sewer line extended to the residence.

Enforcement of the code falls not on the supervisors but Sutter, officials said. Not only is she the person who makes the determination on whether the dwelling is inhabitable, she also enforces state code regarding connection to the sewer.

?The county is going to have to deal with making people hook up to the system,? Hudson said. ?The county is going to have to investigate which homes are hooked up and which ones aren?t. It doesn?t pay to contact the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) because they will just push it back to the county.?

?Jodi (Sutter) is going to have to look at the list (of properties in Mt. Union) and find out who has to be hooked up,? said supervisor Chairman Marc Lindeen.

There is one criterion to escape hooking up to a municipal system if the dwelling is within 200 feet of the sewer. The exception is if the property has functioning primary (septic tank) and secondary (such as a sand filter) sewage systems. However, if either the primary or secondary system begins to malfunction, you would be required to hook up to the municipal sanitary sewer system.

?We will have Jodi look at the properties and talk to people not in compliance,? Stater said. ?We will measure it (the distance from the sewer) and see whether the property is within 200 feet (from a sewer pod) and go from there.?

?You can put the onus on them (property owner) and go from there,? Hudson agreed.

The penalty for not complying with an order to be hooked up to the sewer is $5,000 per day, Hudson noted.

RUSS is mailing letters this week to Mt. Union residents, advising them of the sewer billing changes, Hudson said.

He also said that once all the accounts are brought up to date (by June 1), RUSS will be removing the shut-off valves on properties in Mt. Union that were in arrears. ?We want to have the shut-off valves removed by June 3.?

Because of all the delinquent accounts, Mt. Union residents have been paying $150 monthly for sewer service. However, the RUSS Board of Directors at its May 10 regular meeting set the 2018 fiscal year monthly charge at $60.63 beginning July 1.

Supervisors will host a town meeting in Mt. Union Wednesday, May 31, at 6 p.m., in the community building.