Fillmore council discusses town sewer problems

FILLMORE -- Solutions to the town budget shortfalls may be on the horizon. Progress finally has been made at this month's town council meeting.

The Fillmore Town Council has made some decisions regarding the nuisance ordinance as well as the water and wastewater collection policy at the meeting.

The nuisance ordinance was passed with a few small changes. One of them going into effect Thursday night was the penalties were raised on all violations. Each class violation has gone up by $20.

Once again, the water and wastewater collection policy was put on hold until next month's meeting. This policy was approved by all of the town council except for one member, Tami Parker.

Even with further explanation Parker could not agree that the landlord should be forced to foot the bill if their tenant decided to skip town.

"Once they move you'll just never see them again," explained town attorney Mary Russell.

Parker's resistance tabled the policy until next month's town council meeting.

Brian Bullock from Midwestern Engineering proposed several different options on how to fix the issues regarding the use of sump pumps in the sewers.

The proposed solution to this problem caused quite a debate. As Bullock explained setting up a schedule to check each resident's sewer lines, one resident spoke out in discontent of people being on his property, indicating that he would sic his dog on anyone coming to check.

"If people feel that strongly maybe they need to live in a town with their own private utilities," said Russell.

The man later apologized his outburst made it known that "it's up to the people."

Ample notice will be given to all residents before such an inspection will occur.

The goal of these inspections is to cut down on the problem of freeloading on the town. Many residents may be using their sump pumps in their sewers and not getting charged for this. None of the proposed solutions were approved at this time.

Council president Wes Terhune also discussed the sewer infiltration problem during the council message. He not only voiced his opinion about the need to inspect each resident's sump pumps but even has begun starting a new volunteer committee.

"We have the right to check these things," explained Terhune. "Sump pumps are causing us a lot of problems."

Further review of this problem and proposed solutions will be discussed in the coming weeks and will likely be discussed at the next council meeting.

The next meeting for the Fillmore Town Council will be Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. at Fillmore Town Hall, 2 N. Main St.