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Clark Fork residents voice opposition to sewer study

by Kathy Hubbard Correspondent
| July 13, 2012 7:00 AM

CLARK FORK — Council president Russ Schenck promised a short meeting, but a long discussion ensued regarding the city accepting funding for a sewer feasibility study from USDA Rural Development and Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

Fifteen property owners and residents attended the meeting to voice their opinions to the council despite it not being an official forum for public input.

Schenck explained that the council was postponing signing a contract with Taylor Engineering because of questions that arose about the wording.

“We’ve been given an extension of time,” Schenck said regarding the deadline that was originally July 10. “We’re going to throw this confusing contract out the window and by our next council meeting we’ll have a cleaned up version which hopefully will be easier to understand.”

Tabling the contract could have been the conclusion of the meeting, but citizens wanted to have their say in whether or not the feasibility study should happen.

Council members Harold Hilton and Don Smith have opposed the feasibility study and at last month’s council meeting Mayor Jeff Jeffers broke the tie in favor of accepting the funding.

“You stand firm that we aren’t going towards installing a sewer, but you are going in that direction,” Hilton said.

Schenck replied that he didn’t have a crystal ball to tell him what was going to happen in the next five to ten years, but that the city should be prepared in the event the city was mandated to install a septic system.

He also said that he personally was opposed to a sewer system, that it would negatively impact his business financially, but that he felt his responsibility as a council member was to look towards the future.

Dee Miller, a resident of Hope, served ten years on the Ellisport Bay Sewer Board from 1989 to 1999 and said that if she knew then what she knows now she would have voted differently. She cautioned the council to be sure they knew what they were signing, particularly the fine print in the contract.

Miller also said that when the feasibility study was completed in Hope there wasn’t an option for them not to go ahead with installing the sewer system.

“If the city doesn’t look ahead and we find out in the future that waste water is going into our waterway we will have to pay for the study ourselves,” council member Roger Anderson said.

“If people were informed on how to maintain their septic systems we might not have a problem,” Anderson said, “but right now it behooves us to have a lot of information.”

Residents were particularly concerned whether or not their opinions would be heard. They asked if the approval would go to the vote, and the answer was affirmative. Several mentioned that the money would be a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Most felt that the septic systems were satisfactory and that there was no proof that waste was leeching into the river.

One citizen was concerned that doing a feasibility study would put Clark Fork on DEQ or EPA’s radar screen and that they would come in and mandate the sewer. Anderson said that Clark Fork was already on DEQ’s radar because of its proximity to water.

Anderson acknowledged that the consensus in the room was in opposition to the study and said that he would consider everyone’s comments. The discussion was tabled until next month’s meeting, which will be held on Monday, Aug. 13, at 7 p.m. at city hall.