MAUMEE, Ohio — Maumee City Council has approved a new plan for how to repair sewer lines in the city.
The plan, a collaboration between city officials and the Citizens of Maumee Action Committee, was passed by council with a 6-1 vote with council member Philip Leinbach voting against it.
"We're going to start fixing our system," Maumee Mayor James MacDonald said at the meeting on Monday.
The new plan comes after months of roundtable discussions and the repeal of a controversial ordinance that required residential properties for sale in Maumee city limits to have sewer line connections inspected and for owners to pay for potential repairs.
"We had to involve our community, we had to get buy-in," he added. "This is a community problem and we had to involve them in that."
Starting next year, the city, through opening the bidding for a contractor, will begin nearly $61.2 million worth of repairs to public sewer laterals in the Uptown district and near the Ohio Turnpike.
There will also be $20 million of the same work in areas west of Key Street and north of the former St. Luke's Hospital site. However, that work won't begin until 2030.
Officials say to pay for these projects, the city will use a low-interest $82 million loan through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, with the interest rate at most being 2.8%.
"With this plan, I know the city administrator (Patrick Burtch), he's pretty eager to get going on this, so the sooner the better," MacDonald said.
The public work is the simple part of the plan, though.
"It's whether we can use public funds on private property or not, that's the big question," MacDonald said.
The proposal includes a plan for $20 million to fix private property laterals, open for bidding to a contractor, and another $20 million for repairs to private home sump pumps and footer drains.
If it's legal to do so, the city would try to pay for it through a loan from the Ohio EPA and would ask residents to pay an extra $12 a month in their water bills.
"The $12 assessment would help pay some of the private property work, and that would go exclusively, and only be used for, the sewer fund, sewer rectifications," MacDonald said.
MacDonald says since it's a community issue, the community will help solve it.
Julie Koralewski, who helps run CMAC, says this plan makes more sense than previously proposed ones.
But most of all, she's happy that it includes the people's voice.
"We have come a long way from July and we're really heading in a good direction," Koralewski said. "We are all about transparency, so we're not endorsing the entire project until we know all the details, but what we have up to this point, we definitely want to work them."
The city is also offering grant and loan assistance applications for residents to help complete work, with the awards depending on financial circumstances.
For a household with a combined annual income of $79,217 or less, repairs are fully funded.
For homes with an average median income of $99,022, 90% of the funds would be via a grant and the rest would come from a zero-interest loan.
If you make $158,434, the grant/loan breakdown drops to a 75/25 split. Homes with incomes of $198,042 would have a 50/50 split.
Homes with an income of $198,042 would qualify for a zero-interest loan that lasts over approximately 12 years.