Sewer hook-up issue resolved?

City of Portland officials anticipate approving a sewage treatment agreement with the Jay County Regional Sewer District at this morning’s meeting.
“We believe that we’ll be addressing that tomorrow at the board,” said Portland Mayor and Board of Works chairman Bruce Hosier Wednesday.
The agreement between the city and the sewer district had been stalled due to a disagreement over how many connection fees should be paid.
The agreement will allow the sewer district to send sewage from the line it’s installing around the Foxfire Drive and Ind. 67 area southwest of Portland to the city’s treatment plant.
The sewer district had argued that it should only have to pay one industrial connection fee since the district’s line will only connect to current city infrastructure at one point. The city, however, stood behind its sewer ordinance, which states a connection fee must be paid each property being connected, more than 30 in this case totaling around $17,000 in fees.
The sewer district’s original proposal — asking to only be charged one connection fee — was rejected in December.
Since then, the sewer district has sent a new draft that includes all of the connection fees and meets the other specifications of the city’s ordinance.
“This agreement would be in alignment with what the city ordinance requires,” Hosier said.
Sewer district president Gerald Kirby said Wednesday that he “hadn’t heard a word on” on the agreement recently, but said the sewer district would meet Monday evening to discuss the status of the projects whether the agreement with the city is approved today or not.
Although Kirby clashed with Hosier in December over the connection fee issue, he said getting the sewer lines in the ground is the top priority.
“We need to get the project done,” he said.
The sewer district is also installing two sewer lines north and south of Dunkirk.
Those installs are also on hold  because the district cannot close on its funding package from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development office until it has treatment agreements from both Dunkirk and Portland.
Dunkirk approved its treatment agreement in December and charged the sewer district $750 total in connection fees, $250 for each of the three hookups the district is making into its existing lines.
Once both agreements are locked in, the district will need to close on its grant/loan package. Kirby said he was unsure of how long that process will take, but construction can likely begin once the closing is finished.
The three sewer installations were anticipated to begin at the end of December but were delayed due to the holdups reaching the sewer agreements.
If the remaining steps are handled quickly, construction may begin by the end of the month. But it is more likely that work on the project will start in February or March.[[In-content Ad]]