New Howard ordinance requires residents to connect to municipal water, sewer

HOWARD – At their most recent meeting, the Howard Village board spent a large portion of their time discussing an action item that was drafted at the previous meeting.

The ordinance requires village residents to connect to the Village of Howard’s water and sewer systems.

This new ordinance would require that existing homes (buildings) with access to both water and sanitary utilities, and that are less than 400 feet from the road, connect to those utilities at the first occurrence of either the sale or transfer of the property, well failure or septic failure, said the board.

To delay connection until sale or transfer, the property owner must initially demonstrate that the well is safe and functional by submitting a passing well inspection and safe water test results upon notice, demonstrate it again every five years, and stay in compliance with Brown County’s septic system requirements, said the board.

“A delayed connection is still a connection … This is creating that additional flexibility. There is no timeline,” said Geoffrey S. Farr, PE, director of public works.

During public comment, Howard resident Wendy Anderson stated she was, “In favor of making no change to the existing ordinance and leaving it as is.”

“The criteria for a septic system failure or well failure are so subjective … If you do move forward with the ordinance, I ask that it be tabled so that it can be edited. There are a number of typos as it reads right now,” said Anderson.

Farr acknowledged this comment as he presented this ordinance to the board, stating that section 175 would be corrected to 179 immediately.

For both the board and for village residents, a large point of concern was what the cost of this ordinance would look like for those who would be affected by this policy change.

Board member Craig J. McAllister and Chris Nielson disagreed on this point, specifically regarding section (f) of this ordinance, which says the ordinance only applies to new water and swerve construction available after January 1, 2025.

McAllister shared that he believes adding a start date to the ordinance may lead to some village residents paying higher costs of living than others because of the age of their sewer systems.
Nielsen disagreed with the base of this argument, saying that similar payments have already been made by veteran residents at the time of their own water and sewage system purchases.

Trustee Maria Lasecki and Farr also disagreed with McAllister, but for different reasons.

“This January date is to provide a starting point, correct?” Lasecki asked Farr to confirm, who agreed.

Trustee Nielson clearly stated his support for his ordinance, and then asked Farr to share how often residents who approach the village with requests for water and sewage system accommodations get denied.

Farr shared that, to his knowledge, this has yet to happen.
“Its really about making progress, not saying no,” Farr shared.

After motioning to amend section 175 to 179, the village board voted 7-2 to approve the connection of water and sewage systems, with Trustees McAllister and Hughes opposing the ordinance.