Several residents in the Tyner area attended the Marshall County Commissioners meeting Monday morning to oppose a proposed Marshall County Sewer District.
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.
During their meeting earlier this month, the commissioners approved a motion to organize and form the Marshall County Sewer District. A study conducted by JPR and presented by Ken Jones showed areas of significant need where homeowners could benefit from having a sewer district. The proposed 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. However, nothing has been decided.
Tyner resident, Tim Kazanecki, asked the commissioners about the benefit of a sewer district. Commissioner Michael Burroughs commented that property values will increase while County Attorney Jim Clevenger mentioned that it would be a way of properly disposing sewage. Clevenger noted that a Health Department report showed areas where a number of systems in the Tyner area do not comply with state law.
“We’re trying to look to see what remedy we could have for you folks,” said Clevenger. “You don’t want to end up in a situation where you can’t get rid of your sewage, and as a result you can’t live in your home. The Health Department is concerned that most of the residents in the Tyner area do not have appropriate systems now and when their systems start having issues they’re going to have lots of problems in getting them properly installed, and therefore sewage properly taken care of.”
Residents in Tyner told the commissioners that a sewer district there would create hardships on homeowners with a connection fee and an added monthly expense for sewage treatment. Sharon Leathers said it is simply something the property owners do not want and presented a petition with 70 signatures on it to show that community members oppose such a sewer district.
Leathers stated, “You know what they’re saying? ‘Fix our roads and leave us alone!’”
Resident Ron Burch echoed what Leathers said and added that other solutions should be found. Christine Miller said she just put in a new septic and the soil was fine and was able to install it because of dry wells. Clevenger said in some cases she may not be required to connect to a sewer district, but there could be other considerations involved. He noted that nothing is definite at this point.
Marshall County Commission Vice President Stan Klotz said everything is preliminary at the moment. They will put together a board membership that will make up the sewer district and those members will see which area may be the most important, but for now nothing is set in stone.
Clevenger said a public hearing will be held in the next few months for more public input on the proposed sewer district which will be advertised.
