Mayor Bradley and members of the Lorain Sewer and Water Advisory Board reviewed Ordinance 17-21 and the board’s charge on June 5, 2025, placing the board’s role in the context of past rate-setting and federal environmental mandates.

The mayor told the board that Ordinance 17-21 was passed to create a citizen advisory board to provide “strategic oversight of the operations of the sewer and water divisions” and to review the adequacy of rates charged. He summarized the ordinance’s requirements that the board review rates, proposed capital projects and green-technology implementation, meet at least twice yearly, and provide reports to city council in June and December.

The mayor recounted the recent history of fixed-rate changes: he said the smallest meter’s fixed water rate was 30 cents per month in 2016, rose to $9 per month in 2017, and that city officials later successfully argued to keep water and sewer fixed rates at $9 each rather than implementing scheduled increases through the 2020s. He said, based on available figures, the city’s treated water cost to the customer is approximately 1.6 cents per gallon. The mayor stressed the board’s original purpose: to ensure rate changes are justified and transparent.

During public comment, Councilmember Mary Swayowski said the higher rates initially stemmed from an unfunded Environmental Protection Agency mandate and related legal enforcement actions and consent decrees. She invited the full advisory board to attend a July meeting of the City Council’s Utilities Committee to discuss possible ways to create and fund a hardship program for residents.

Board members raised a separate, pending operational question about whether city sewer staff may enter streams or ditches on private property when there is no recorded easement. Members said the board sent a written request for a legal opinion to the law department in February; attendees reported Attorney Riley had been assigned to the issue but a written opinion had not been received. Mayor Bradley said he would contact the law director to request that opinion and encouraged law-department attendance at future board meetings when legal questions or litigants are present.

Several speakers cautioned the board about interacting with Gerald Phillips, an attorney who has filed litigation against the city over sewer and water rates. The mayor and legal representatives advised the board that, because the lawsuit is pending, board members should avoid providing substantive responses to questions from Mr. Phillips in public meetings and should consult the law department before engaging so as not to jeopardize the city’s litigation position.

No formal rate changes, hardship-fund commitments, or legal opinions were adopted at the June 5 meeting; the board left those items as pending and scheduled follow-ups with council and the law department. Council and staff indicated a joint meeting or follow-up with the Utilities Committee is planned in July to consider recommendations and next steps.