Mayors seeks county’s help in complying with EPA order

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Municipalities from across Hardin County are dealing with new state requirements to take inventory of their water systems and report those findings to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

The cities and villages have until October to report when each hydrant, valve and other parts of their water treatment system were purchased and assure the OEPA there would be money available to replace the part if it should fail 10 years into the future.

The study can be conducted in house, which seems to many as being difficult at best, or could be contracted with businesses who have established a template to complete the reports.

Estimates on those services go into several thousand dollars for the villages and cities.

Once that data is collected, a special computer system is required to send that information to the state.

Five of the county’s nine mayors met with the county commissioners Thursday morning to seek help in meeting the deadline and paying for the cost of the reporting computer system.

Instead of each community responsible for the bill for their individual software and computers, the mayors reasoned, the county could purchase a centralized unit accessible to all of them.

“This is not just a passing phase,” said Forest Mayor Tom Seem.

“It is a mandate from the EPA for our water and storm sewer and sanitary sewer will probably follow.”

The biggest issue with the report, said Forest Village Administrator Wes Davis, is the OEPA has not yet shared with the municipalities what exactly the reports want.

The legislation was passed in June of last year, he noted, and there is still no final version of the requirements.

“We are in a holding pattern,” Davis said.

Aaron Domini, principal planner with OHM Advisors, told the mayors he had attended a meeting earlier in the morning in which a representative of the OEPA likened the agency’s expectations on the reports to “building an airplane on the runway.”

Centralization of such data is nothing new, continued Domini. Collecting the information in the first year will be challenging, but once it is in place, maintaining the files should be easier.

Once the data is collected, he continued, it will be a great benefit to future generations, he said.

“Employees come and go and when they go, they often take some history with them,” agreed Seem.

With the system in place, it can be saved for those looking for water system solutions 50 to 100 years from now, noted Domini.

“It is good practice. It just hurts right now,” he told the mayors.

Kenton Law Director John Schwemer said the global approach to the county’s data could be a benefit to economic development in the county.

“Our communities don’t have this kind of money,” said Seem.

“We are coming to the commissioners asking for a pledge. We don’t know the numbers today, but we can set up a meeting when we have more information.”

The commissioners agreed bringing the communities together to save money would be a benefit to all in the county.

Commissioner Randy Rogers said using the county as a repository for the data was a “great idea.”

Commissioner Brice Beaman and Ada Mayor David Retterer questioned if the data needed by a village like Patterson would be compatible with the report which is required by Kenton or Ada.

Domini assured the mayors and commissioners there is software which would allow each of the entities to make their EPA report unique to their needs.

The mayors agreed to make sure their reports all will have the same system for the county records.

Beaman also questioned the impact of working on the reports would have on the county’s GPS director.

He reminded the mayors the responsibility for the reports lies with the individual communities, and not with the county.

The mayors agreed the GPS director could not be held responsible for the information they input into the system.

Commission Chairman Roger Crowe asked the mayors to get some numbers together and return to the commissioners for consideration.

“We are all in the same boat,” said Crowe.

“We are all losing money each year.”

“That’s fair,” responded Seem.

With Seem taking the lead, the mayors also requested the commissioner consider sharing the money the county receives from Ohio casinos with the villages and cities.

“We talk about this all the time,” he said of his fellow mayors.

“Even if you could share a small portion of it, that would help us with roads … I know the legislature says you don’t have to (share the revenue), but we should be helping each other together.”

The amount of funding the state anticipated would be coming to the county is considerable lower than the actual amount, said Beaman.

The commissioners had been told to expect nearly $1 million annually, but it has brought in $378,000 in its best year, added Rogers.

The county, too, said Beaman, is losing funding from the state.

“The casino money doesn’t even replace what they took,” he told the mayors.

By DAN ROBINSON
Times staff writer