Church presents case to council

Friday, January 12, 2007
A view of the floor drain in the basement of Family of God Church in Roachdale immediately following the sewage back-up during the New Year's Day weekend.

A Roachdale church looked for some answers, and perhaps a little divine help, during the Roachdale Town Council meeting Tuesday night.

As featured in a previous BannerGraphic article, the Family of God Church, 205 N. Walnut St., had experienced a sewage backup that flooded the church's basement at the end of December. Counting this incident, the church has had sewage backup issues three times since March of 2005.

Pastor Larry Phillips, along with several members of the congregation, attended the meeting to present their case to the council.

Phillips reminded the council that the church had filed numerous claims back in 2005, and it was notified by the town's insurance that the claim was denied because of an illegal drain.

Phillips said that the church has provided both the town and the insurance company with information that the drain was not illegal.

"We would like to know does the town itself have any ideas what the problem is, are they working toward fixing the problem that exists," Phillips said.

Council President Bill Long said the town has been doing everything it can at this point and that if the church had a claim it needed to make one so it could be turned into the insurance company.

Long also said that the town would look at the sewer lines.

He said the town does not know what is going wrong with the line until a camera is sent through it.

Long also said that the town does not follow the state's ordinance on waste and sewer lines.

"Our ordinance says that no waste water drains in basements can be hooked up to that sewer," he said.

The Roachdale Town Ordinance states, "No person shall make connection of roof downspouts, exterior foundation drains, areaway drains, or other sources of surface runoff or groundwater to a building sewer or building drain when in turn is connected directly or indirectly to the public sanitary sewer."

Town Clerk-Treasurer Jennifer Archer told the BannerGraphic Thursday that the church's drain falls into this category.

However the church had concreted the drain after the second incident. This time, the sewage appeared to be seeping out of the walls in the basement.

Both Long and Phillips agreed that they wanted to find out where this was coming from and why it was happening.

"What I would love to see," Phillips said, "is the problem corrected right there where we can all sleep easy at night."

Currently, the church is holding services in the Bainbridge Community Center until the congregation is allowed back inside.

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