Steve Schenden, Sawyer director of operations, speaks at Tuesday’s Marquette County Board of Commissioners meeting. The board voted to leave the current K.I. Sawyer sewer ordinance as written for the time being. (Journal by Cecilia Brown)

MARQUETTE — Following staff recommendations, the Marquette County Board of Commissioners voted against making changes to the current K.I. Sawyer sewer ordinance, which governs repair and replacement responsibilities for sewer laterals in public road right-of-ways.

Commissioners Bill Nordeen and Joe Derocha were absent.

The board previously requested the K.I. Sawyer Water and Wastewater Department research the logistics of the department taking on the financial responsibility for sewer lateral repair and replacement. Under the current ordinance, K.I. Sawyer property owners are responsible for sewer laterals from their building to the sewer main, and could incur significant costs if they needed to repair or replace a sewer lateral, which concerned commissioners.

“The current ordinance, they accept responsibility as a property owner from the building all the way to the main, even if it crosses through the right-of-way,” Steve Schenden, Sawyer director of operations, said.

A single lateral replacement could cost $10,000 to $15,000, Schenden said, noting that the cost depends on a variety of factors, like “how wide the road is, if it has curb and gutter and sidewalks, how deep it is, if you have to cross a gas line.”

Schenden said staff examined many aspects of the situation before making a recommendation to leave the ordinance as written at this time.

“The department researched probable cost, funding for the work, control of the work, administration of the work,” Schenden said.

GEI Consultants prepared a report for the department on the estimated cost of replacing eight sewer and two water laterals a year in the rights-of-way, Schenden said.

“Costs, which are assumed to be for restoration and renewal of pavement, curb and sidewalk, as well as a new lateral, are estimated to be $156,000 each year,” a memo from Schenden contained in the board materials states.

Schenden said they explored multiple options for addressing the costs, with one option being an additional flat fee of $10 a month to residential customer water bills, which would cover the assumed costs and could be marked as a special fund for the work.

One concern was fair cost-sharing for the residential lateral replacement, as many people who live in K.I. Sawyer are renters and many of the properties are multi-residential.

“There may still be some discrepancy for cost sharing as some residences have laterals that do not go in the ROW (right-of-way) and duplexes and multiplexes typically only have one lateral,” board documents state.

Schenden said they also examined local ordinances in other Michigan municipalities to see how common it is for a water department to be responsible for laterals in the rights-of-way — only three municipalities were responsible for sewer laterals in the rights-of-way and tended to cover the cost under regular billing and “most municipalities make the property owner responsible for sewer laterals in the ROW,” board documents states.

“Looking at the ones that do replace it, most of them have a public works department,” Schenden said. “We do not have a public works department, which means anything we do that’s at all much digging, we need to hire a contractor for.”

Another major consideration is that the department is working to complete an asset management plan for the sanitary sewer system, Schenden said, noting an extensive examination of the system is being conducted through a Stormwater, Asset Management, and Wastewater, or SAW, program grant from the state.

Due to this and the complex nature of fair cost sharing, Schenden said staff recommends revisiting the ordinance when this assessment is complete, noting the ordinance and/or rates are likely be updated after they have the complete information from the assessment.

“At this time, the department is recommending leaving the current ordinance as written and not assuming additional responsibilities and revisiting this after we have all the information from the SAW grant,” Schenden said.

Cecilia Brown can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248. Her email address is cbrown@miningjournal.net.