City votes to move forward with sewer

After months of public meetings and consideration by the Thompson Falls City Council, it came down to a tie vote from the mayor Monday evening to decide whether or not to continue with a proposed wastewater treatment project.

Mayor Jerry Lacy voted to form two Special Improvement Districts (SIDs) after the council split 3-3 during a roll-call vote. Council members Dennis Newman, Tom Eggensperger and Shawni Vaught voted against creating the SIDs, while Lynne Kersten, Raoul Ribeiro and Earlene Powell voted for the matter.

Ribeiro, after the vote, said that he will continue looking for ways to help people pay for sewer hookups. "The more options we can give our taxpayers, the better," he said.

In their intent to create the SIDs, the city council had a protest period in which parcel owners in the two districts could provide written protest to the action. In SID 1, 107 of 193 parcel owners, or 55 percent, protested the SID creation. In SID 2, 89 of 142 parcel owners (63 percent) protested the action. Under state law, the creation of the SIDs would have been stopped if more than 75 percent of parcel owners in each of the proposed SIDs had protested the action.

Ron Clark was part of a group of residents who helped inform the community about the protest period. After the vote, he addressed the City Council and stated that they "proceeded to vote while in direct violation of the protest.... That leaves you open for a class-action lawsuit." He argued that the council was supposed to hear all of the protests before voting. Council members responded that they had reviewed the protests submitted, and Mayor Lacy said they would take Clark's comment under advisement.

"I'd like to thank all the people who signed the petition," resident Linda Parker said. "This really brought the community together."

At a public meeting held last week at the Thompson Falls Community Center, about 50 community members attended to hear the council, Sanders County Sanitarian Shawn Sorenson and representatives from Great West Engineering and Rural Development speak about the project. During the meeting, Rural Development said that a program is available to help those who are low-income and over age 62 pay for the SID assessment. It was questioned at the meeting and confirmed by Rural Development that in order to qualify, the structures (such as mobile homes) would have to be on a permanent foundation. At the City Council meeting Monday, Jen Kreiner with the Sanders County Community Development Corporation said that her organization has a loan program for septic repair and replacement, and that some assessments could be covered by that program.

Rep. Bob Brown of Thompson Falls attended the public meeting last week, saying that "it feels like it's (the project) is being pushed on the people and that doesn't feel right to me. ... It's time that the council sits back and takes a look to see if you're representing the majority of the people." Council member Lynne Kersten asked if there was anything Rep. Brown could to help residents and project funding.

Resident Jim Greaves, at the public meeting, again asked whey the improvements to the existing sewer system weren't developed as a separate project. County Sanitarian Shawn Sorenson said that two out of every three septic systems replaced on the hill in Thompson Falls don't adequately treat wastewater, and it's getting harder to approve permits.

The sewer project is estimated at just less than $15 million and will provide updates to the existing sewer system below the railroad tracks. It will also include upgrades to the wastewater treatment system and connecting more than 500 land parcels north of the railroad tracks to the city sewer system. By creating the SIDs, phases one and two of the project will move forward. Properties west of Grove Street in Thompson Falls are included in the first two phases of the project. Phases three and four will include city properties east of Grove Street. When those projects begin, SIDs will likely be created for those properties as well, the city council and project planners have said.

The assessments included in the SIDs created by the City Council would appear on tax bills of those property owners beginning in November of 2020.