BEAN BLOSSOM — In the next couple weeks, property owners in the path of the proposed Bean Blossom sewer line will receive a mailing asking them to fill out a questionnaire.
That information will be used to design the sewage collection system that will be going in their yards, replacing the septic system they have now, said engineer Gary Ladd.
The mailings will be slightly different for each property owner, as each will also contain a map of their property. Owners will be asked to draw in the approximate location of their existing septic tank, water line or well if they have one, and other features they think the project planners should know. For instance, if they’re planning to build something in a particular spot, or just had landscaping done and don’t want their tank to go there, that would be helpful to know, Ladd said.
Once the Brown County Regional Sewer District Board receives completed maps and questionnaires, they will reach back out to property owners to talk about easements so that the district can maintain the new sewer parts for them, Ladd said.
He estimated the project would serve 256 users in the Bean Blossom area.
After the new sewer tank and lines are put in, residents will be able to use the parts of their property that had to be limited in use because wastewater treatment was going on beneath the ground, said sewer board President Mike Leggins. He held up his arms to show about a 3-foot-wide space that would be needed for the sewer tank, versus the large drain field that is often required for a septic system.
A roomful of residents attended the March 12 sewer board meeting at the Fruitdale Volunteer Fire Department to hear updates on the Bean Blossom sewer project and ask questions.
One of them was: If property owners write on their questionnaires, “I don’t want sewer,” will the sewer board tell the public how many don’t want it? The question came from Justin Barrett, who lives in the project area, and from Bob Cochrane, who doesn’t.
“I would see absolutely no reason not to tell you, positive or negative or in between,” said board member Clint Studabaker.
If the board does not receive surveys that are complete, Studabaker said they would probably come out and talk to individual owners.
Survey questions include data such as how old the property’s septic system is, whether or not all the water used in the home drains into the tank, how many people live in the home, and what amperage of electric service the home has. That information will be used to help design the system going on each property, Ladd said.
The past two sewer boards have not taken a survey to learn how many property owners would support having sewer service.
According to state law, if a sewer line passes within 300 feet of a property line, a sewage treatment provider may require a property to hook on.
Exceptions are only allowed if the home’s septic system was installed less than 10 years ago and the homeowner can prove that it is not failing, said Vicki Perry of RCAP, a nonprofit working with the sewer board. Property owners can receive extensions until their septic system is 20 years old, she said.
The sewer board is planning to pay for the construction of sewer lines and a new wastewater treatment plant with a mix of government grants and loans.
Studabaker told the crowd that he had met with an official from the State Revolving Loan Fund and it sounded like Brown County could win a large chunk of the $10 million in grants available for such projects. The board will know what funding is available by July.
The target bill for sewer customers in the Bean Blossom area is $65 per month. Customers’ electric bills also will go up slightly when sewer is installed; Ladd estimated it might be $1.50 more a month on average. There will also be other fees associated with installation.
Barrett said he didn’t want sewer now because he’d just spent $20,000 two years ago to install a new septic system. Provided that the new system is working, he would be eligible for an exemption. But he would have to decide for himself whether he’d want to hook up now or wait until he needed service, when the cost to hook up could be different, Studabaker said.
Bean Blossom resident Bandy Russell is asking some of the same questions as she decides what would make financial sense for her family. She’s been working with Brown County Council President Dave Redding to put together a packet of “fact-based information” to help homeowners learn about the wastewater treatment they already have, so they can decide whether staying on septic for as long as possible or jumping on sewer when it’s available will be best for them in the long run.
Other questions asked and answered at the meeting included:
When is stream testing going to happen?
The sewer board has been planning to collect samples from area waterways and submit them to state agencies for testing. That’s an attempt to determine the extent of pollution by human waste, and whether or not e.coli found in local streams in the past is coming from human or animal sources.
Studabaker said the board has been working with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to put together protocol for how to collect samples and he’s been waiting to hear back from that agency. When those procedures are agreed upon, Brown County Health Department staff have committed to help do the collection.
Samples will be sent to an Indiana State Department of Health lab in Indianapolis which has the ability to analyze the water for chemicals which only humans are likely to excrete in their waste, such as caffeine and aspirin, he said. He didn’t know exactly how long it would take to get results back on those samples.
Some residents have asked for “proof of need” of sewers, and water sampling was one way to answer that question.
Where is the sewer plant going to be built?
Negotiations are still in progress with a potential landowner, so the board opted not to say.
What if a bunch of property owners take the exemption and choose not to hook onto sewer right away? Is the project going forward no matter what?
No, Studabaker said to the “no matter what” question.
If a large number of customers did decide to take exemptions, audience members Paul Navarro and Bandy Russell said that that could affect the monthly cost of sewer for the existing users.
Studabaker said he didn’t believe it would be mathematically likely that sewer exemptions would have a big effect on the project, because exemptions are only available to septic systems that are less than 10 years old.
Property records on file with the health department show that 48 percent of properties have no septic system records on file, said Studabaker, who’s also on the health department’s septic committee. Of the properties that do have records, “very few” have septic systems newer than 10 years old, he said. “We’re not going to see 150 of them (eligible for exemptions).”
If someone takes the exemption and doesn’t hook onto sewer right away, will they still be charged an interim rate during construction?
The board had reported months ago that they will be able to charge Bean Blossom sewer customers an interim rate — such as half the regular monthly bill — while the sewer is being constructed. They hadn’t yet decided whether or not they were going to do that.
Leggins told the audience March 12 that he’s learned from other sewer boards in the county that charging an interim rate is probably a good idea. Helmsburg Regional Sewer District did not charge customers anything before their sewer was actually hooked up, so when the sewer became functional, the board had no operating money in the bank and had a hard time paying its bills, Leggins said.
Studabaker said that if a potential customer with a less than 10-year-old, functional septic system decides not to hook onto sewer right away, “we are not going to charge him an interim fee.”
The Helmsburg Regional Sewer District board has said that it could take on some wastewater flow from Bean Blossom at its Helmsburg plant if Bean Blossom became a Helmsburg RSD customer, but it could not handle the entire area to be served with this Bean Blossom sewer plan. Have you considered cutting down the Bean Blossom sewer service area?
“No,” said engineer Gary Ladd.
Bean Blossom originally had been a part of this sewer plan more than a decade ago, but when the group went to submit it for funding, the funding agencies “shot us down because there wasn’t enough of a customer base,” he said.
Longtime sewer board member Debbie Larsh said that partnering with Helmsburg has been an option for many years, but early on, the cost estimate that Helmsburg sewer board said it would charge to treat Bean Blossom’s wastewater was way too high to be affordable. “I’ve never heard them say otherwise as to whether it would be higher, lower, what the wholesale rate would be,” she said.
There’s “strength in numbers” for sewer customers, Ladd said, and Helmsburg is an example of that concept. The Helmsburg sewer district has only 64 customers, and starting this spring, they’re going to paying $92 per month. In comparison, Gnaw Bone sewer customers pay $50, Leggins said. They have more than 150 customers.
“You have to have enough users to generate enough income that is going to pay the loans back,” Leggins said.
He said they’ve approached the Helmsburg sewer board many times over the years asking “What can we do for you?” and haven’t gotten anywhere. “I feel that it’s time for Helmsburg to come to us and say, ‘What can you do for us?’” he said.
Allison O’Shea, a member of the Helmsburg Community Development Corporation, took Leggins to task for not being “more prepared” to try to work out a partnership with the Helmsburg sewer board when she felt he had the chance.
Studabaker said it’s still possible. “We’ve made that offer. We will continue to make that offer.” Working together “makes so much sense it’s like falling out the door,” he said. But if the board is willing only to consider limited ideas of “working together,” “it makes it very difficult to come together with a common plan,” he said.
“We’re not going to give up on that idea at all,” he added.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Other sewer board business” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
The sewer board also:
- Introduced new board member Ben Gold. He said he was interested in serving because he’s lived in Brown County most of his life and he had worked on a wastewater treatment plant project in Bartholomew County. He encouraged people to talk to them if they had “worries, ideas or questions — I’m open.”
- Decided to apply for two grants, both of them to create a more comprehensive wastewater treatment plan for the county. The Regional Assistance Planning (RAP) grant from the State Revolving Loan Fund (SRF) would be for $30,000. The Regional Opportunities Initiative (ROI) grant from the Lilly Foundation would be for $100,000 to $250,000. The board opted not to apply for a $750,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) grant through the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) because the deadline to submit an application is too short.
- Asked to see a draft of the Brown County Regional Sewer District’s website by the next meeting on Tuesday, April 9. Vicki Perry of nonprofit group RCAP is working on this with a web hosting partner. The web address will be browncountyrsd.org. It will not cost the board anything, Perry said.
- Extended Bean Blossom sewer project engineer Gary Ladd’s work agreement through Dec. 31, 2019. The board also approved paying him a total of $30,030.29 for his work in the first three months of this year.
