Mill Hall officials say debris is fouling school sewer lines; district staff to seek solution

Derek Berry, Mill Hall Borough president, told the Keystone Central School District facilities committee on May 26 that borough crews are finding an expanding range of items illegally entering sewer lines that tie into district facilities, including “pencils, vapes, paper towels… rubber gloves, black rags” and other debris.

Berry said crews have begun collecting physical examples to supplement photographs and asked the district to consider a formal arrangement—similar to one Berry said exists with Bald Eagle Township—to address recurring cleanups and related costs. “We feel like we were disregarded in our findings,” Berry said, urging the district to produce a lasting fix rather than repeated temporary measures.

Sam Hoy, the district’s facilities supervisor, told the committee the district currently has a maintenance plan that schedules cleaning after the school year and can be increased to twice a year if conditions worsen. Hoy said staff will evaluate options that balance efficacy and liability, including strainers or catch baskets to capture debris and non‑permanent measures for cleaning.

A district technical speaker noted that a large grease deposit in a manhole outside the cafeteria would require manual removal because the district’s jetter is designed to follow the flow channel and cannot lift settled material out of a manhole. Hoy added that once separate school lines enter a common manhole it is difficult to identify which school a given item originated from.

Given legal concerns raised previously by the district solicitor about any agreement that might be interpreted as accepting ongoing liability for the line, committee members recommended an approach that provides practical help without creating new legal exposure. Chair Chris directed Hoy and Dr. Redmond to work with Mill Hall representatives on a practical proposal and return a written recommendation to the board. Mill Hall invited Hoy to a Sewer Highway Committee meeting on June 8 to discuss numbers and operational details.

The committee did not adopt a formal intergovernmental agreement at the meeting; it instructed staff to negotiate options, bring cost estimates and potential temporary measures to the board for consideration.