Sewer district adopts exclusion policy
By Debbie Lowe

Indiana Code states a sewer district "may" require a property owner to connect to a sewer line if their property lies within 300 feet of the line. It has long been a belief that "may" really means "shall" and that interpretation has caused confusion in the past among consumers and board members when those situations present themselves, which could be anytime a sewer line is installed.

According to Carroll County's representative on the Twin Lakes Regional Sewer District Board of Directors, Wayne Garrison, the state statute leaves it to the sewer district board members to interpret the law.

Garrison, appointed less than a year ago, was uncomfortable with the vagueness of the statute and became the driving force behind establishing a policy to help guide board members in making unbiased decisions about who could qualify for an exclusion.

Garrison said TLRSD is the largest sewer district in the state and to his knowledge, no other district has attempted to "establish a direction about this issue."

Garrison said the process took an interesting turn after the projects committee developed the one-page policy. He said the intent was to make the issue "black and white" and easily understood. However, after the sewer district's attorney reviewed the document, it turned into three pages.

The policy lists five conditions, some with sub-conditions, which must be present for a property owner to be excluded from the district. A copy of the policy can be obtained by calling the district office at (219) 253-1105 or (877) 810- 2814. The policy will be posted on the district's Web site at www.twinlakesrsd.com.

Other business

Board members adopted the Phase IIIB loan resolution to obtain funding from the Office of Rural Development (RD) for the Carroll County portion of the sewer project. The amount to be borrowed from RD is $12,022,000.

TRW Engineering firm representative Joe Tierney reported Phase IIIB plans and specs were sent into RD Jan. 31. He said the next phase would be to advertise for bids and then proceed to construction.

The next sewer district board meeting will be Feb. 22 at 7 p.m.