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Council hears legal briefing on pursuing exclusive water territory outside town limits
Summary
An outside attorney told the council Bargersville can seek state approval to declare exclusive water (and potentially sewer) service territory outside town limits; councilors instructed staff to explore boundary options carefully because of potential regional friction.
BARGERSVILLE, Ind. — The Bargersville Town Council heard a legal briefing Jan. 28 on adopting an ordinance that would designate areas outside town boundaries as the town's exclusive territory for water service.
"As a municipal sewer or water utility, you can adopt an ordinance declaring areas outside your municipal boundaries to be your exclusive territory," said Chris Chienach, an attorney with Bose McKinnon Evans, who addressed the council about state law and regulatory practice. "It's only outside your boundaries. You have exclusive rights in your boundaries now."
Chienach said the town can adopt an ordinance covering up to roughly four miles outside the municipal boundary for water service (he noted a broader range can apply for sewer), and that the designation becomes enforceable once approved by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC). He described the process as one that requires the town to present engineering, financial and service plans to the IURC and be prepared for other utilities to intervene.
Councilors probed both the benefits and the relationship risks. Staff described the principal benefit as protecting recent and planned infrastructure investments from competitive overlap: establishing exclusive territory makes it less likely another provider could connect customers served by a town main after Bargersville has invested in pipes and mains. Council members cautioned that neighbors and investor‑owned utilities could perceive an aggressive mapping exercise as damaging to intergovernmental relationships.
Councilors asked staff to explore potential boundary maps and to identify areas of likely tension before deciding whether to file an ordinance with the IURC. Town staff said a formal filing, once pursued, typically takes many months to conclude and would require engineering and accounting work and outside counsel involvement.
