Hamilton County: Casavant defends $8 sewer fee

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Though other commissioners clucked with disapproval, Hamilton County Commissioner Richard Casavant said the Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority’s plan to charge an $8 monthly fee is a necessary one.

“It’s going to cost money however you do it,” Dr. Casavant said at Wednesday’s commission meeting. “You cannot run a sewer now with 1970s regulation.”

The treatment authority is under “huge pressure” from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to fix leaking pipes in gravity sewer systems around the county, he said.

“We can’t keep dumping water in the river, according to TDEC,” Dr. Casavant said.

The $8 monthly fee — $96 per year — will help repair pipes that connect homes to the main sewer line, according to treatment authority officials. About 24,000 homeowners with gravity sewer systems — ones whose flow relies on gravity — in East Ridge, Red Bank, Signal Mountain and Lookout Mountain will have to pay the fee.

Some of those lines are cracked and leak water into the stormwater drainage system, officials said. Any excess sewage that comes into treatment facilities — during heavy rains, for instance — cannot be processed and must be dumped into the Tennessee River, authority Chairman Henry Hoss has said.

Still, some commissioners said they are unhappy with how news of the fee came to light. Commissioner John Allen Brooks compared the fee to a tax and said municipalities such as Red Bank did not get enough notice about it.

“I don’t like how they did this,” he said.

Treatment authority officials held a public meeting in Signal Mountain last week to explain the fee.

Commissioner Curtis Adams said the commission “gave birth” to the treatment authority and should have been given the courtesy of a briefing.

“We’ve given away our power,” he said.

In contrast to the water authority’s actions, Tennessee-American Water Co. officials came before the commission last month to explain their proposed 20 percent rate increase, Mr. Adams noted.

Water Authority Executive Director Cleveland Grimes said officials gladly would explain the fee to commissioners. Mr. Adams has asked Mr. Hoss to appear at next week’s commission meeting.

Derryberry Public Relations represents the treatment authority, said Robin Derryberry, the firm’s owner. Ms. Derryberry said her company boils down complex engineering information and documents into understandable language that the treatment authority then can communicate to the public.

Commissioner Fred Skillern questioned the need for a public relations firm.

“The football team that’s 11-0 doesn’t need any PR,” he said.

Also on Wednesday, the commission approved a total of about $2 million in funding for improvements at LJT-Tennessee, a Chattanooga steel tubing maker. A portion of that money will come from grants from the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development.