The Helmsburg Regional Sewer District board has applied for a grant to study the options for its wastewater treatment going forward — but not everyone involved in that process is comfortable with how it played out.
Meanwhile, more than one group is making a push to dissolve or reorganize the Helmsburg sewer board, citing concerns with the way it is operating.
The grant
The Brown County Regional Sewer District, which is working to get sewer service in nearby Bean Blossom, asked the Helmsburg sewer board earlier this summer to consider a grant-funded study of the current Helmsburg plant and options to treat wastewater going forward.
The thought behind it was that because Bean Blossom and Helmsburg are only about 3 miles apart, maybe there was a way for the two entities to work together and get lower sewer rates for all customers.
The BCRSD also is applying for the grant, so if it’s approved, one study will be done of Helmsburg’s and Bean Blossom’s facilities and challenges.
A contentious meeting on July 5 was devoted entirely to the application, with some rate payers concerned that the Helmsburg RSD board wanted to limit the scope of the study. At that time, board Chairman Denise Broussard and member Harrietta Weddle voted to make changes to the application that Broussard suggested. Those included a mention of studying Helmsburg’s plant for possible expansion, so that the Helmsburg Regional Sewer District could take on more customers. Board member Jenny Austin wasn’t permitted to vote because she attended the meeting via conference call.
On its application, the BCRSD asked that the study include looking at possibly routing Helmsburg customers’ sewage to Bean Blossom. That’s where a new plant will be constructed to serve 200-plus customers in the Bean Blossom area.
The grant application was discussed again at the July 15 Helmsburg RSD meeting. Broussard was not present, but she had prepared a draft for the rest of the board to see and approve. Austin, who was running the meeting in Broussard’s absence, read parts aloud which Broussard had added. Other than spelling errors, she didn’t mention anything else that she wanted to see changed.
“We changed everything everybody wanted,” Weddle said about the audience’s concerns from the July 5 meeting.
“It would seem you did,” Austin said.
Austin and Weddle voted to approve the application, Austin signed it, and she passed it to Helmsburg RSD attorney John Young to correct spelling errors.
But there’s a problem, Austin told the county commissioners on July 17. The application that Young actually submitted to the state grant committee was not the one she signed, she said.
Austin did not have a copy of the one she approved because she had given hers to Young, but she did have a copy of the one that Young later sent to the state. The one sent to the state included language about the Helmsburg Community Development Corporation being in support of expanding and upgrading the existing Helmsburg sewer plant, and mentions possibly treating sewage from Lake Lemon and Trevlac as well as Bean Blossom.
“It was not the document presented last night,” Austin told the county commissioners.
County commissioner Diana Biddle immediately made a motion to send the matter onto the county’s legal adviser. All three commissioners agreed.
Young had not responded to a message seeking a copy of the document that Austin signed before press time. On Aug. 5, Broussard sent a copy of a document that included Austin’s signature, which was identical to the one Young sent to the state. It was unclear whether that was the original version Austin had seen at the July 15 meeting.
Weddle said on Aug. 2 that she didn’t know there were concerns about the grant application Young sent to the state. “There was not changes made after she (Austin) signed it — at least I didn’t make any, and I know Denise didn’t make any because she was out of town,” Weddle said.
Reorganization?
In the meantime, other efforts are under way to make leadership changes on the Helmsburg sewer board.
Jim Kemp handed out copies of a page-long letter at the June Brown County Redevelopment Commission meeting, calling for the dissolution of the Helmsburg sewer board.
Kemp had spoken a similar message at other public meetings earlier in the year. He is president of the county redevelopment commission and helped Helmsburg residents start the Helmsburg Community Development Corporation a year and a half ago.
Kemp wrote that “whether individuals are elected, appointed or employed by the county, we all have a fiduciary responsibility to place our personal biases aside and to exhibit sound reasoning when it comes to making decisions. It is paramount that our decisions are in alignment with what is in the best interest of our county’s economic and environmental sustainability for the long term.”
The last paragraph reads: “I further believe it is in the best interest of the rate payers of Helmsburg Regional Sewer District and Brown County to petition the Indiana Department of Environmental Management for the immediate dissolution of the Helmsburg Regional Sewer District and all assets and liabilities be transferred in kind to the Brown County Regional Sewer District.”
A petition has been circulating for weeks that seeks to remove Weddle and Broussard from the board. John Kennard brought it to the July 10 Helmsburg Community Development Corporation meeting and the corporation — made up of Helmsburg landowners, residents and customers of the Helmsburg sewer district — voted to support it.
Kennard works for the Brown County Health Department and supports the expansion of sewer access to more areas of the county. He doesn’t live in Helmsburg, and he didn’t start the petition, he said. But he’s gathering signatures because others are concerned about what would happen if they did it themselves, he said.
As of July 19, he said he had more than 40 signatures. There are 63 customers total. He wants to get about 90 percent of Helmsburg sewer customers to sign before he takes it to the county commissioners. “I’m close,” he said.
When asked his reasons for supporting the petition, he said it was because “customers’ impression is that they have no say.”
“The commissioners need to understand this is a serious issue,” he added.
Broussard did not respond to a message seeking comment on the petition.
Weddle said Aug. 2 that she was aware of the petition, but she didn’t want to comment on it. “They can do what they want,” she said.
“It’s all blown completely out of proportion by now. The whole darn thing’s just blown up,” she added.
In June, the Helmsburg sewer district board passed a resolution to establish itself as an elected board. Currently, all members are appointed by the county commissioners. The commissioners oppose that change and the county’s attorney has said he intends to challenge it.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management would have to approve the change to an elected board before it would become official, according to Young, the Helmsburg RSD’s attorney.
On Aug. 1, IDEM spokesman Public Information Officer Barry Sneed said the agency “has not received anything concerning the make-up of the board for Helmsburg Regional Sewer District.”
Why does it matter?
Helmsburg residents have voiced concerns over the cost of their sewer bills at several public meetings.
Since June, Helmsburg sewer customers have been paying a flat $92.50 per month for sewer. It was the second rate increase in less than two years; the minimum rate had been $45 since 2001.
Weddle and Broussard have said that the increases were needed in order to keep the utility on solid financial footing. The board also has made other moves to cut expenses, such as forging a partnership with the Gnaw Bone Regional Sewer District to share billing costs.
The Helmsburg Community Development Corporation advocates for the needs of the community. The cost of sewer service has been a central concern lately — not only for current residents, but for the new residents and businesses they would like to see join their community, Bill Austin told the county commissioners in July. His daughter and son-in-law are officers of the Helmsburg Community Development Corporation.
“We have internet, the sewer, an attractive area for economic development, but $92 by itself discourages anyone from moving in, and we suspect people will move out,” Bill Austin said.
“It’s not that we’re proposing a specific solution; we’re looking for any solution,” he said.
