Mayville Common Council Repeals Sewer Lateral Replacement Mandate

(Mayville) The citizens of Mayville will no longer be mandated to replace defective sewer laterals. By a 3-to-2 vote, the Mayville Common Council agreed Monday night to repeal a city ordinance that required citizens to fix their laterals within 90-days if they were found to be defective. The law was originally enacted three years ago by the previous administration in an effort to prolong the life of the city’s sewer plant. Mayor Rob Boelk, who spear-headed the initiative to rescind the ordinance, says there are other issues that need to be addressed outside of faulty sewer laterals. Boelk says a major problem that has continued in the city is residents pumping storm water into the sewer system which is against the law. He says of the data that has been collected, it suggests that the laterals play less than a 1-percent role in the issues of polluting the waterways. Boelk says other problems include leaking man-hole covers and water mains. Since 2015, 15-percent of the city’s laterals were inspected. Roughly 80 were found to be defective and required the home-owners to pay out-of-pocket to fix them. Several citizens at the meeting last night raised concerns and felt that there should be a reimbursement plan to offset the costs they paid. Boelk says he understands and as mayor is sorry for the hardship those who were required to fix their laterals went through. Boelk says the council will discuss at their next meeting to see if anything can be done to aid citizens who paid to replace their sewer laterals.