6.2. SR 08-13-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City of Elk -�- River REQUEST FOR ACTION TO ITEM NUMBER Mayor and City Council 6.2 AGENDA SECTION MEETING DATE PREPARED BY Work Session August 13, 2012 ustin Femrite, P.E., City Engineer ITEM DESCRIPTION REVIEWED By Private Utility Service Connection Options John Cunningham, Fire Chief REVIEWED BY Cal Portner, City Administrator ACTION REQUESTED Discuss options to get private properties with city services currently available connected to the public sewer and water systems. BACKGROUND /DISCUSSION At the April 2, 2012, meeting, the Council approved an ordinance to allow existing users of the public sewer system the ability to have repairs to their service lines, which are deemed a public safety hazard according to our policy, assessed against their property. The ordinance was adopted to assist property owners with the costs of unplanned/ emergency service line repairs. Since its adoption, five property owners have already taken advantage of the new program. The ordinance was intended to assist property owners that are already connected to the public sewer system. Staff was further directed to seek options to connect all properties to available public utility services. There are currently about 90 properties that have both sewer and water available but are not connected. There are also about 105 properties that are connected to either sewer or water but not both. Sections 78 -21 and 78 -97(d) of the Elk River City Code require all properties with access to sewer and water services to be connected to the public systems within 2 -years of said utility availability. There are about 195 properties in violation of this ordinance. After an option is chosen, the code should also be amended to specifically state that any property required to be connected to water and sewer which seeks to connect to one utility shall be required to connect to both utilities at the same time. Staff has developed the following list of options to bring these properties into compliance. Option 1: City Installation Section 78 -22 of the City Code authorizes the city, after 90 days written notice, to make connections and assess the cost to the property as a special assessment. Parallel language in Sec. 78- 97(d), authorizes the city to also make sewer connections and assess the costs. The city would send notices to the unconnected properties and if the connections are not made within 90 days, the city would make the connections for the property owners and assess the costs. This option raises a number of issues, including potential liability related to the city entering private property, digging N Y