The Brown County Commissioners will have the first reading of the rewritten Brown County septic ordinance at their March 18 evening meeting.
The first reading was on the agenda for the Feb. 19 evening commissioners meeting, but no members of the Brown County Board of Health were present. The commissioners decided to postpone voting on the first reading until their evening meeting next month when health board members could be present to explain the rewrite.
“I don’t want to do it without the input of the board. This is coming to us on their recommendation. It’s always been my practice and policy that people we appoint to boards, we appoint them for their levels and areas of expertise,” commissioner Diana Biddle said.
“We trust them to do a good job.”
Since many residents had attended the meeting to give their opinion on the rewritten ordinance, the commissioners still took public comments.
A committee of volunteers has been working on the ordinance for more than a year. Committee members Kara Hammes and Richard Hall introduced the ordinance and explained the process the committee went through to complete the rewrite.
Three residents spoke in favor of the ordinance. Thirteen residents spoke against certain sections in the ordinance or asked clarification questions about it. The hearing lasted almost two hours.
After hearing those comments, Biddle said the commissioners may be able to work on changes that could be approved at the next meeting. She said she would check with the county’s attorney about that possibility.
The ordinance will require two readings. The first vote could come at the March 18 meeting, which starts at 6 p.m.
The commissioners had promised that the septic ordinance would only be discussed during evening meetings to allow residents who work to attend.
Read the draft (dated 1/21/20 on the Brown County Health Department’s website: browncountyhealthdept.org/page-7/page-11.
Read what people at the hearing had to say about the ordinance in the March 4 issue of the Brown County Democrat.
