2010 sewer project dispute ends after $5M settlement

When it began constructing a new sewer line in two Franklin Township neighborhoods in 2010, Deer Creek Excavating didn’t follow a cardinal rule of plumbing — it flows downhill.

Because the now-defunct company installed some sewer pipes running uphill and others between rocks and in areas more likely to cause leaks, Franklin County’s sanitary sewer department demanded the work be done correctly in the Mon-E-Bak and Brown Road East areas. When the company went out of business, Franklin County sued Deer Creek’s insurance company.

The court battle officially ended Tuesday when Franklin County commissioners adopted a resolution calling for Deer Creek’s insurance company to pay the county $5 million. That’s still less than the $6.7 million the county spent to continue the work on the sewer lines after Deer Creek folded. Franklin County agreed to the settlement, deputy administrator Kris Long said, to avoid years of future litigation, ensure the

The deadline to connect to the new sewer line is Dec. 20, 2019. Connection is mandatory. Residents must pay to connect to the sewer and the cost of decommissioning septic tanks and leach fields. Financial assistance information can be found at https://tinyurl.com/ya63ny4o. The deadline to apply for aid is Feb. 16, 2018. county recouped some of the money and so that areas that rely on septic tanks — many of them failing — could tap into the sewer line sooner.

“We recovered costs to the extent we could,” Long said Tuesday.

After Deer Creek went out of business, commissioners ordered the work to continue. They paid to complete the project and sued. The work began in 2010 and was expected to be completed by 2012 until the poor job by Deer Creek was discovered.

About 70 percent of the Deer Creek work had to be redone because of sags, leaks and “adverse slopes” in the pipes.

“The project currently is near full capacity,” Sanitary Engineer Stephen Renner said, noting only road paving remains. “Once that occurs, we will start the connection phase.”

The sewers are vital to those areas because leaking septic tanks were tainting water wells.

Two public hearings for the project to advise property owners of the tap-in process are scheduled for next week.