BOARD MOVES AHEAD WITH SEWER PROJECT
Monday, February 6, 2008
By Fredricka Paul
[email protected] -- 768-4927
Plans for the unincorporated village of Rives Junction and other parts of Rives Township to hook up to
Blackman Township's sewage lines are still under way despite continuous attempts to halt them.
Rives Concerned Citizens would like the Rives Township Board to delay implementing the plans for 60
days to hear an extensive plan for a decentralized sewer system that would be contained to the village.
``As the Concerned Citizens of Rives, we as a group, knowing how you want to do what is best for the
people, question your decision to go ahead with the present proposal,'' Tom Babcock, co-chairman of
the group, told the board at a meeting Tuesday, reading from a prepared statement. ``We hereby request
that you delay any further proceedings with the proposed project until such time as we provide you with
the engineering study.''
The board did not entertain the group's request. ``We need to get this system in the ground as soon as
we can,'' Rives Supervisor Gerald Surbrook said. Township officials want to put in public sewers
because private septic systems are failing. The project is estimated to cost more than $2.5 million, with
$1.5 million coming from a rural-development grant and $1.3 million borrowed through the county from
the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A pipe would travel from Rives Junction down Rives Junction Road
to Northwest Community Schools. People in the village have been assessed about $9,200 per household
for the project, while people who live along Rives Junction Road have been assessed $4,500.
Assessments can be paid off over 40 years.
The residents group researched alternatives that did not include hooking up to the central system, and is
requesting the board further review using a decentralized system that would be developed by Stephens
Consulting Services, an engineering and planning firm in Haslett.This method would result in no sewer
lines along Rives Junction Road, which would save 46 homeowners, some of whom are members of the
group, from paying an assessment. There are 99 households in the village that would hook up to the
system under either scenario.
Surbrook said the board is not interested in putting the project on hold, saying the state Department of
Environmental Quality would like the system installed by the spring. He said he doesn't believe the
group's proposal would save money because the monthly sewer-use fees for a decentralized system
would be $45, according to a study by Stephens Consulting Services, compared to about $20 under the
township plan. The decentralized system also does not allow room for growth, he said. Not assessing
the people who live along Rives Junction Road would cost the people in the village an extra $2,000 per
household, Surbrook said. If the township hooks up to Blackman sewers, homes along Rives Junction
Road wouldn't have to hook up until their septic systems failed, he said, adding eight to 10 homes have
already had their private systems fail. Going with the decentralized system would also cause the
township to lose the grant money, Surbrook said, an assertion that the residents group disputed.
Babcock said the group is not trying to stop the system from being installed, but it wants the board to at
least consider the decentralized system. If officials still think the central system is best, the group would
have no further objections, he said.
Following is a letter sent to all of the board members February 9, 2008
We are writing in response to statements attributed to you in the Jackson Citizen Patriot, dated February 6, 2008,
concerning the alternative sewer system in Rives Junction. This system, as you are aware, was presented to
you and the Rives Township Board on January 2, 2008, by concerned citizens and Larry Stephens of Stephens
Consulting Services, P.C. Numerous citizens involved in the project are deeply troubled, offended and frankly
angered by the false and misleading statements you made concerning the alternative system presented.
A great amount of research, labor, and money has gone into the study of this system, much of which has been
provided to you with substantial evidence showing the viability and credibility of this alternative.
1) This evidence shows there is adequate room for expansion of the alternative system. In addition, the
population growth of the Village of Rives is limited because of its geographic location.
2) Insofar as the residents of the village having to pay $2,000 more, this is in fact a lie, as evidenced by the
figures put together by Mr. James White, on page 6 of the resolution passed by the board on January 18,
2008. Final plans and specifications for the already selected system, without District 3, are necessary in
in order to make any assumptions as to an increase or decrease for the citizens in District 2. We strongly
believe the alternative system would be substantially less and will provide the figures to prove they would
in fact pay less.
3) The evidence discovered and presented to the Board showed the grant money would not be lost by waiting
60 days or by considering the alternative. (See Exhibit C of the Resolution to Reaffirm Design Alternatives
for Sewer Project).
4) As to your comments about not having to hook up unless one's system fails, why not be honest and quote
from your letter to the residents announcing the August 28, 2007 meeting, which states; "After completion
of the new sewer system, the township will require improved properties in the special assessment district
that are located within 300 feet of the system to be connected to an available public sewer at such time as
either the existing septic system fails or the township determines that it is necessary for the public health,
safety, and welfare for those properties to connect to an available public sewer." (emphasis added)
