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Franklin Township Sewage Authority previews broad changes to rules, rates and regulations; vote set for next month
Summary
Consultants presented comprehensive revisions to the authority—s rules, rates and regulations — including new private-collection-system standards, a violations-and-penalties appendix, higher inspection escrows and clarified will-serve letters — and the board deferred a vote to allow public review.
The Franklin Township Sewage Authority received a detailed presentation of proposed amendments to its rules, rates and regulations on the evening the board met. Will Korosick, presenting for the authority—s consultants, walked commissioners through a package of changes and asked the board to consider a formal vote at next month—s meeting to allow time for review and public comment.
The proposed revisions change how applicants receive a will-serve letter, clarify when an applicant must pay for a capacity analysis (noting the DEP—s around-8,000 gallons-per-day threshold for substantial flow), and raise the minimum construction-inspection escrow from $500 to $1,000. The package also relocates provisions on illegal connections, standardizes performance-bond calculations (calling for bonds equal to 20% of approved bonding estimates), and adds triangulation requirements for as-built clean-out locations.
A major addition is a new Section 17 governing private collection systems. The section would require private system operators to maintain an inventory (spreadsheet-based), submit a monthly report (new Appendix H), meet minimum maintenance standards, and accept audits by the authority. The rules allow the authority, in prolonged noncompliance cases, to convert unit-based billing to flow metering and sampling and to recover costs for authority-performed repairs.
The draft package adds Appendix G, a violations-and-penalties matrix that provides multiple enforcement tools, from notices of violation and administrative consent orders to court actions and a graded penalty schedule tied to severity. Consultants said the appendix is modeled on comparable provisions used by other local sewer authorities and grounded in statutory references. Appendix F updates prevailing labor and unit costs used for calculating developer performance guarantees.
Korosick said the developer—s agreement was streamlined to remove ambiguous checkbox options, the default position is that the authority will not take ownership of private collection systems, and insurance requirements were increased to better protect the authority. He invited commissioners and the public to submit questions during the review period.
Commissioner Francois pressed staff on public access to the technical review and approval reports for development projects. The consultant and staff responded that the authority coordinates with the township planning/technical review committee and that applicant-submitted engineering reports typically form part of the planning board record; staff agreed to follow up to confirm whether finalized review reports are publicly posted on the township site and to report back at the next meeting.
The board did not vote on the rules package at the meeting; the presenter and staff asked commissioners to review the materials and plan for a vote next month. The authority noted it will solicit and accept public comment in the interim.
Next steps: the authority will publish the proposed amendments for review and schedule the vote at the subsequent board meeting.
