MAUMEE, Ohio — After weeks of concern from people in Maumee, a controversial sewer ordinance is no more.
"Guess what, we just repealed it," said Maumee City Council member Josh Harris. "That's exactly what you wanted and that's exactly what we did."
Council on Wednesday unanimously voted to repeal a controversial ordinance that required owners of for-sale properties to pay for sewer repairs if the property failed an inspection.
Voted into law on June 17, the now-former ordinance 20-2024 required properties for sale in Maumee city limits to have their sewer line connections inspected and for owners to pay for potential repairs.
"We just want to give our residents a chance to weigh in, so we'll see how that goes in the next couple of months," said Mayor James MacDonald.
For weeks, city officials said the previous ordinance was needed to start fixing illegal discharging from sewers into the Maumee River.
But now, they say they want to hear the people out.
"They wanted us to just stop this ordinance, and don't do anything further," Harris said. "That's exactly what we did tonight. We did not enact any new ordinance."
But even with the ordinance repealed, some questions still remain.
For example: what if my house was already inspected and fees were paid?
"The inspections will be refunded for sure once we come up with a new ordinance to help them out," Harris said.
What about those who have completed repairs?
"I don't know if there is any relief coming other than maybe into the right-away?" Harris said. "But I am not able to say right now whether or not there's going to be any type of full refund or anything."
That is due to the city not going through a proposed reading of a pre-meeting ordinance: 31-2024. It would have still called for homeowner sewer inspections, but without a requirement for replacement or relining of sanitary sewer laterals. It would have also created a revised grant program.
But after executive session, council decided to abandon that plan and simply repeal what was on the books.
"I've always said that no effort goes without error and shortcomings, and we needed to make this right and try to let the community weigh in on it," MacDonald said.
For some residents, they feel that their concerns were finally heard and addressed.
"This is the first time they've actually, probably listened to us, and that's because it wasn't just a few angry people and business owners who are already frustrated. It's the entire community that realized what's happening here in Maumee and they are furious," said Maumee resident Aubrey Hornsby.