The Marshall County Commissioners agreed to organize and form a regional Marshall County Sewer District during their meeting Monday morning.
Ken Jones from the engineering firm Jones Petrie and Rafinski said JPR was initially hired by the Marshall County Health Department to conduct a study of underserved areas of the county in terms of wastewater treatment. In a previous meeting, he stated that the firm found 15 unincorporated areas within the county with limited options in terms of wastewater treatment. Now, Jones said the process is ready for action.
“We are at the point at this date that if the county commissioners felt comfortable we could proceed with a petition to file the Regional Sewage District,” said Jones.
Out of those 15 priority service areas in the county, JPR has chosen an initiating project in order to file a petition with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
Jones continued, “We kind of chose some areas that were in significant need and maybe one of the larger service areas to kind of put together a project that we think is reasonably fundable and that would be an attractive project for the State Revolving Loan Fund or the USDA.”
The initiating project would include the areas of Tyner, Teegarden and Inwood, along with an area what is being called the South Michigan Service area, that is south of Plymouth City Limits. It would be about one-third of the total goal of the entire project.
Commission President Kevin Overmyer asked specifically about the lake areas and their priority. Jones said it the second-largest service area in the proposed district and a commissioner-appointed five-member Marshall County Sewer District would be able to choose a priority area when discussing the project with users. However, the South Michigan Service area can connect directly to an existing sewer treatment facility that touches the service area. Discussions are ongoing with the Plymouth Board of Public Works and Safety concerning that direct connection with the City of Plymouth.
The projected cost will be about $21 million which will be presented for funding through a State Revolving Loan or through the USDA. Monthly user rates could be about $80 or $90, but nothing solid has been decided yet.
American Rescue Act Plan funds can be used to pay for design and planning work which could be reimbursable if project funding is approved.
County Attorney Jim Clevenger said landowners or future customers with an interest in the areas will be able to populate the district board that will oversee maintenance and operations.
In the end, the commissioners approved a motion to organize and form the Marshall County Sewer District. A petition for the formation of the district will be prepared in the next few months by legal counsel. After the preliminary engineering report is complete, a briefing will be held with the commissioners and the Marshall County Council, followed by a public hearing, notification to municipal entities that already have districts or municipal boundary, and then the completed petition with attachments will be presented to the county commissioners with the final stop at IDEM.
