The Tyner Community Building was full of concerned citizens Thursday night wanting to have some aspects clarified about a wastewater treatment study conducted by officials at Jones Petrie and Rafinski (JPR).
Ken Jones from JPR explained that JPR was hired by the Marshall County Health Department to review underserved areas in Marshall County when it comes to wastewater treatment.
“The goal was to try to determine if there is something that can be done and let’s get a picture of what the current conditions are,” said Jones. “So one of the things we asked the Health Department to do was to dive into their records and provide us with a picture of what they believed had been the history of wastewater treatment in communities like Tyner and Teegarden.”
Overall, the study led to 15 priority service areas in the county including Tyner, Teegarden and Inwood, along with an area what is being called the South Michigan Service area, that is south of Plymouth City Limits.
Jones stressed that this is a preliminary engineering study only, and no decisions have been made concerning a potential project.
Marshall County Commissioner Stan Klotz, along with County Councilman Jim Masterson and Councilman Steve Harper, were in attendance where they confirmed that no decisions have been made, but have voiced opinions in public meetings where the lake areas would be a priority to keep lakes clean of human effluent pollution.
However, any decisions would be discussed and approved by a Regional Sewer District Board appointed by the commissioners, county council and others regulated by state statute.
Many residents in attendance asked about potential hook up and user costs, and if there were ways to be exempt from that process if newer septic systems have been installed. However, Jones said plans are not even close to that point, and the areas mentioned in the preliminary engineering report may not even come to fruition for some time.
Many people want things to stay how they are and to focus on other areas without disruption to the quality of life in Tyner and Teegarden. Polk Township Trustee Jerry Lamb said since there have not been failures reported as of late, a sewer district is not needed.
Jones is expected to be at the Marshall County Commissioners meeting on November 1 at 8:30 a.m. ET in the Marshall County Building to talk further about the study with the commissioners during their public meeting.
