MOUNT VERNON — Former and current leaders of the Clinton Water and Sewer District spoke at Monday’s council meeting, opposing the city’s desire to abolish the district.
Last month, Mount Vernon City Council members passed a resolution supporting abolition. Clinton Township trustees also support ending the district.
The township established the district in 1990 to finance water and sewer expansion. Mount Vernon now provides those services.
Former CWSD president John Holland said he was there at the start.
“What I want to make sure the council understands is when I was thrown into that, there were a lot of things that were supposed to happen from the city to help us get everybody on board,” he said.
However, Holland said a personnel change at the city required the district to hire someone to determine who was and was not hooked up so the district could balance and forecast operations.
Holland said district officials talked with the previous administration about lowering the city’s 40% surcharge.
“We’ve got $7.9 million into this project, plus we’ve been paying you close to $500,000 every year. And that 40% is like $200,000. Where’s that go?” Holland asked.
He said the system is new, in good condition and requires no repairs.
Holland said the district’s existing agreement with the city runs until around 2041. He questioned why the city would take it away, especially since township residents have no vote in city elections or city council.
“Why would we want to give up?” he asked. “The only protection that we have is this board.”
Board says requests for meeting have gone unanswered
Holland raised concerns about the city forcing residents to abandon their private wells. He also said the city put a financial hardship on residents in what he referred to as Dogtown (Pittsburgh Avenue, Crystal Avenue area) when it installed water lines.
The neighborhood is low income. Holland said it represents 22 percent of CWSD’s delinquent accounts. However, he said the district did not push or sue for payment or file property liens.
“We worked with them, we worked with what we had. We balanced the budget, we cut expenses,” he said.
Holland said he does not believe $15 a month is an expensive management cost.
CWSD board president Don Durbin said the district is a separate, self-governing entity: Appointed by township trustees, but not run by them.
“I’m just going to let the council know that we are not going to dissolve the sewer and water district,” he said.
Durbin said the district has asked twice in the last two weeks for a meeting. However, he said no one has spoken to the board.
Safety-Service Director Tanner Salyers said he spoke to board member Terry King. Durbin said he was unaware of that conversation and asked that city officials meet with all of the board.
“I’m just here to let council know that we would like to have a meeting with whoever; the utilities committee — I don’t know who is running the utilities committee — and the mayor and whoever else we need,” he said. “Let’s have a meeting and talk about it because we have not been offered anything.”
