10/15/2000 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Regular Council Meeting 10-15-01 Page 4 sewers and here are the charges that you can expect once those sanitary sewers are in. This is a 4th entity with the N.E.O.R.S.D. and we had put it into a chart so you could pretty much tell the players and know which phone number to call if you had a problem with a particular issue. We researched quite a bit prior to that meeting, we called the Sanitary Engineer's Office, Cleveland Division of Water's Customer Service Division, N.E.O.R.S.D. and said can we get all of the rates that would be in effect when the sewers went in. As you recall, they went in close to the end of 1995. We sat down with Ruth Langsner who was just transitioning from Jim Bruggeman's Office and said 1996 is when the first charges will be for the operation and maintenance and she assured us yes, yes, it will be. Three people tied in and I guess one of their rules of thumb is the minute anybody on a systein ties in, that's when the operation and maintenance fees kick in. So the next January, we were telling people you won't get any bills until 1996, and they were getting them in 1995. We called the Sanitary Engineer and said we went to some great lengths to make sure that we gave people the correct information so that they would have this information and somebody in your department charged everybody for the operation and maintenance fees when only 3 people tied in. She said, I understand; we did tell you that, so what we are going to do is that we will take all of the charges off in 1997--which they did. When 1998 rolled around, they put them back on for everybody but 33 people. Then, I - got the call. Then in 1999, the same thing happened. I think we've finally got it down, but the reason I'm getting into the history is that part of the history was to roll back a year. In essence, it was a bad thing that came out of a good thing--we did get a refund. The other peculiar nature of your particular problem is that when you look at a map of your neighborhood, you are surrounded by newer pipe. That may have been the problem that created the situation. Everything to the south of you, south of Hemingway is newer (cement-lined) pipe and on Wilson Mills, Robin and Joyce and those areas. Yours is the only stretch of old pipe in the neighborhood. That impacts all of the water in the Worton Park neighborhood. What I think it may have done is also mask the problem because we became aware that it was a problem of old pipes in November or December of last year. (Bernie is not here; I can't verify that.) But that is why we were looking all over--I don't think that Cleveland Department of Water realized that they had that old segment of pipe because the records on Worton Park probably show a newer date. It is only that one section between Wilson Mills and Hemingway that is the older pipe. Once we realized that, within a month we put in for emergency funding and we were denied. I have the application here with me today and I can go over it with you and show you the components. I think it stands a very good chance because unfortunately, we are not able to push the safety issue on the basis of the water because we have been told the same thing that you have--that the water is not a safety issue from a potable water standpoint. However, what we have tried to do is to put it in terms of a fire suppression issue that when you have an occluded line that perhaps you are running into problems with your hydrant pressure and your water capacity for your hydrants. That is a critical component in applying for a grant. We were trying to balance the line between what is accurate and where can we make a valid statement of fact as this impairs the safety of the neighborhood. So, that's a 60-point area; that is strong. The other thing is that we are going to go with the general Issue 2 funding. If it's not successful there, then it is eligible for a secondary program which is Small Government Funds (because we are a Village and because this project is under a half million dollars) it becomes eligible for those funds. We have a 2-shot approach to that so we are optimistic. We can't guarantee anything. We will know in November, generally, how it plays out. Plus I have one of the Committee