Village sewer and water utility connection back in front of Howard board

HOWARD – In a matter that Howard Trustee District 4 John Muraski said the village needed to remain consistent with, the board directed staff to return with new recommendations considering the ordinances and policies requiring property owners to connect to the sewer and water utility.

Recommended action brought forward by Howard Director of Public Works Geoffrey S. Farr included directing staff to draft ordinance amendments specifying the time allowed to connect to utilities and other related conditions of connection.

Staff recommended a motion “to direct staff to draft ordinance amendments allowing property owners 18 months to connect to utilities from the date of the village’s written notice to connect, having both sewer and water, except buildings that exceed 400 feet from the road right of way, unless otherwise approved by the village board.”

 Trustee District 8 Craig McAllister also requested that the board consider repealing the village's utility connection ordinances that require fronting buildings to connect to sewer and water mains/services when they are extended and installed.

“One of the problems that we're having right now is kind of just a management issue, where the current ordinances for water and sanitary state very short time periods,” explained Farr.

“Well, one doesn't say anything, the other one says 30 days. And of course, connection in 30 days is just not realistic, and so we're asking the village board, ‘What is an appropriate time to connect?’ And we've recently had a few property owners on Evergreen Avenue and Marley that have not connected and are somewhat refusing to do so. So this has left the village staff in a little bit of a lurch because the ordinances aren't clear as to the connection time frame allowed, and so we need to know what that is in order to effectively manage the connection requirement.

“Because it does take some effort to coordinate and schedule utility contractors and plumbers, and it is typically winter time, so it's easy to understand where six to nine months could easily be required in order to make an action. It's also an unplanned expense for many folks, and I'm sure you'll hear that in the future as well as you've heard in the past. So in that regard, it might even be more appropriate to offer a longer time frame — over one year — so they have some time to plan and save and prepare for connection.

“So basically, staff is asking that a reasonable time of connection be determined and added to the sewer and water ordinances, and that way we the staff knows how to handle connection requirements and basically enforcement action as it might be needed.

“Finally, the property owners that have already been notified to connect and that have been refusing to do so, we want to have a definitive time on how to handle that again. Typically, here we are now in wintertime. While it's good from a contractor availability standpoint, it is still winter, and oftentimes contractors or the weather is not cooperating. So, we would suggest in the case of the property owners that have not connected to date be given until Aug. 31 of this year, and then anybody going forward would be given up to 18 months to connect before we would have to take any kind of enforcement action.”

McAllister said that the village was “past due” on changing the ordinance.

“We should no longer require mandatory hookup. Mandatory hookup was a thing when you have a new fledgling utility that needs and requires users. That's why they force mandatory hookup. The village of Howard does not have a new utility. Our utility is 70-80 years old,” he added.

Farr said that “everybody else requires connection. And you know that, in itself is not a good reason, but everybody does this. This is not unusual. It's certainly not pleasant. And I think you know, people have angst about connecting. There's no doubt. But really, what this comes down to is really prudent utility practice.

“There are some very, very important things that when you live in congested areas, there are environmental factors, as far as making sure that we don't have new wells installed or new septics installe because we have thousands and thousands of people that are connected to this water system. And water, quite frankly, is probably the most important thing this village and other municipalities do for the residents. You have to ensure a safe water supply. You want to do it at the lowest operational cost that you can. You want to make sure.”

Muraski said the village had been debating the issue for eight years, and after an hour of input from the board called for a conclusion to the discussion.

 “We can do nothing and it will revert back to 60 days. I am perfectly fine doing that as well — let’s do nothing and now it is 60 days and focus on compliance that we have to deal with. But, I feel like we are being asked to make a different kind of decision here,” he stated.

“It is a stressful scenario that Mr. McAllister brings up in representing constituents that are experiencing this… but as long as I have been here we have had folks that have been here and rightfully upset, rightfully frustrated, and because of the economic times, if we want to put more time on it I have no problem with it.

“But I don’t feel that we can now suddenly say, ‘No one has to hook up anymore.’ We’ve been having folks hook up for a heck of a long time.

“We need to be consistent and stand by this policy that we’ve decided on again and again.

“I would encourage staff to come back with that motion for us to discuss.”

With that being the majority consensus of the board, Village President Burt McIntyre added, “Then when they bring it back, we can dissect it and go through it again, and that to me is a fair way of doing it.”