RUSS board votes to move forward with legal action against Mt. Union

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Following a nearly 60-minute closed session conference with legal counsel during its April monthly meeting, the Regional Utility Service Systems (RUSS) Board of Directors unanimously passed a motion to move forward with litigation against the City of Mt. Union.

RUSS and Mt. Union have been at odds for several years over some Mt. Union residents refusal to pay their monthly sewer bills.

The utility built a new sewage system in Mt. Union went online in 2010. When Mt. Union residents opened their bills from RUSS for monthly service, they learned that the amount was nearly twice what residents had been told prior to the project, according to Mt. Union Mayor John Marek.

Consequently, some Mt. Union residents have refused to pay their bills and that has led to RUSS billing the city for the unpaid bills, Marek said.

RUSS Executive Director Bruce Hudson is on vacation and was not available for comment.

Hudson and board members also discussed the Moor/Powdertown sewage project during the April 8 meeting. There are about seven residents living in the service area who want to retain their septic tanks and not hook into the new sewage system.

Hudson said he is not opposed to granting the variances to the seven households but said if the property is sold, the variance should not go with the property.

?The (septic) systems down there are not older than 2002,? Hudson said. ?The law states that if the property is transferred or the system fails, they have to hook into our system.?

Lee Dimmitt, Jefferson County supervisor and RUSS board member, said he wants that in writing. ?What I want is to grant a one-time variance and spell out the reasons. We should have an attorney outline who gets the variance and the reasons for it.?

Mark Fincel of Gardner and Associates, the engineering firm for the Ollie wastewater project, said progress is being made. The project just began less than two months ago, but Fincel said so far, so good. ?Progress has been very good. We had weather that was very good for March. The only problem we encountered is that there was more sand than we had anticipated.?

Fincel presented an amendment (change order) which the board approved.

The change order raises the basic services price by $6,094. The increase is due to delayed completion of design; the movement of two additional service items that were billed incorrectly under basic services; and additional costs in design and administration tasks.

Construction observation increased by an estimated $3,800 due to a change in the 2015 billing rate and mileage allowance.

There was an increase of $9,957.86 (estimated cost) on additional services. Part of the increase was due to an increase in the property survey estimate; increased easement estimate; increased reimbursable estimate; increased construction survey estimate.

The change order also includes about $5,000 in reductions.

Fincel said the estimated amount of additional services included in the amendment which may be spent is approximately $7,000.

RUSS board members meet again Wednesday, May 13, at 1 p.m. in the Henry County Emergency Management Building in Mt. Pleasant.