Resident raises alarm over slow water-sewer customer growth, Delayed Richfield IGA and Division Road lift-station risks

Scott Heffley, a Germantown resident, told the Public Works and Highway Committee that the village’s water and sewer customer counts and daily usage have barely changed over the past decade and urged faster action on planned intergovernmental work and lift-station upgrades.

Heffley said he pulled figures from the village’s annual comprehensive financial report and noted the utility’s average daily water use is roughly unchanged from about 1.8 million gallons per day in 2013 to about 1.76 million gallons per day now. “We’re not using any more water than we were 10 years ago,” Heffley said. He also said the village added only about 319 water customers and roughly 300 sewer customers in 10 years.

Heffley pressed for an update on a planned intergovernmental agreement with Richfield, saying the village needs additional water and sewer capacity from that partnership to support utility growth. He also urged the committee to accelerate Replacement or rehabilitation work for the Old Farm lift station that carries two-thirds of the neighborhood’s sewage, calling the station’s potential failure “a catastrophe” for lower-elevation homes.

Committee members and staff did not dispute Heffley’s figures at the meeting; later in the director’s report staff addressed Division Road and ongoing utility planning (see related director’s report article). Heffley also referenced an Ehlers consulting sewer-rate study that projected future revenue shortfalls despite recent two-stage rate increases of about 88 percent last year, and said he wants “very hard data” before supporting more rate increases.

The remarks were part of the meeting’s public comment period and no formal action was taken in response. Committee discussion later in the meeting touched on Division Road utility conflicts, right-of-way acquisition and ongoing studies that the staff said are still in progress.