For three hours, with people seated on the floor and standing along the walls, the Brown County Commissioners heard concerns about the revised septic system ordinance Thursday night.
Almost no one said they supported it exactly as written, except for people involved in creating or enforcing it — and even they acknowledged that it wasn’t perfect.
The county ordinance currently in effect was enacted in 1997.
The commissioners went section by section through the new draft, which has been under development for more than a year and a half.
Several audience members asked for the county to forgo having its own ordinance and just adopt the state’s septic system rules.
Audience member Sherrie Mitchell asked for entire articles of the ordinance to be removed. Those included the sections that require a complete septic system inspection before a home can be sold, but exempt certain other kinds of property transfers; and the ones that regulate who can install a septic system and how they are certified.
After hearing all the comments, county commissioners Diana Biddle and Jerry Pittman voted to send the draft back to the Brown County Board of Health again. Commissioners President Dave Anderson did not attend the hearing due to illness.
What happens with the ordinance next — whether that’s starting over, as audience members suggested, revising this draft again, or adopting the state septic code — will be a task the health board will deal with next, Pittman said. Biddle asked to be included in the health board meeting where that discussion will happen.
Health board President Thomi Elmore said she’d like to see the health board create a new committee — not including her, since she helped write this last draft — and include county residents on it.
A sheriff’s deputy was stationed outside the meeting room, but the discussion remained largely civil. The commissioners reeled in commenters who attempted to publicly question or criticize other people in the audience; comments were to be about the ordinance only.
Before the meeting even started, six people had emailed comments to the commissioners. Only one of them threw their support behind the ordinance changes. More comments were dropped in a box at the front of the room as speakers stepped up or audience members left the crowded room.
Written comments will still be accepted until Friday, April 6, Biddle said. The email address to use is [email protected].
Read more about the audience’s suggested changes in the April 4 paper.
