After years of intermittent discussion, officials from the village of Ortonville and Brandon Township are once again broaching the subject of sewers.
Village Manager Ed Coy and Township Supervisor Kathy Thurman recently decided to create a joint sewer committee, the purpose of which will be to research and plan a joint sewer district and watewater treatment center.
‘The village has been trying to get sewers for years,? noted Thurman. ‘They made an attempt to install one independently, but that didn’t turn out to be feasible. The township has discussed sewers for many years also and we think if we work together, we might be able to make it happen.?
Thurman and Trustee David King will represent the township board on the committee. Coy and an as yet to be named councilmember will represent the village. Other representatives, also not yet named, will be a Bald Eagle Lake resident, a village resident, a Downtown Development Authority boardmember and a community business owner.
A lack of sewers in the community has crippled business growth. Failing septic systems have continually caused health concerns, including e coli in Kearsley Creek and condemnation of homes. Oakland County Health Division Manager George Miller has said when current septic systems fail, residents would need to go to engineered systems, which in the long-term are more expensive than sewers. He noted that for maintaining public health, sewer systems are far healthier.
A sewer timeline was postponed indefinitely in July 2007 due to a lack of property for a wastewater treatment plant and faltering support in a crumbling economy. A straw poll regarding interest in sewers was sent to 1,195 residents and businesses along the M-15 corridor and around Bald Eagle Lake and Lake Louise in early 2007. 661 replies were received, with nearly 60 percent of respondents voting that they were not interested in sewers.
Coy said he and Thurman decided to bring up the topic of sewers again due to a village council election in September 2007 that changed four members of the council, and the township election this past November that brought three new faces to the board.
‘There are new people involved, relatively new councilmembers and relatively new people at the township level and that’s why we decided to get together on this again,? Coy said. ‘I am hoping we can take care of the wastewater problems in township and village, and in my wildest dreams we can get our hands on some federal money that’s becoming available. They’ve talked about it 50 years. The need for it is pretty obvious, to help development of the village and commercial areas in the township, and in turn that will generate additional tax revenues and enhance property values.?