Rome committee to notify homeowners, clean up septic records and explore ordinance for noncompliance

The Rome Water Quality Committee on Jan. 14 reviewed a subcommittee effort to consolidate decades of septic permits and state data and agreed to begin homeowner outreach and follow-up.

Committee members Cynthia Esthimer, Michele Stafford and Emilie van Eeghen reported that the subcommittee has been meeting weekly and has compiled a spreadsheet of state data from an intern and is working through COE files to update parcel‑level records. They said Tammy’s ownership‑transfer information will be added to the dataset to identify properties lacking recent septic evaluations.

To increase compliance with the law requiring a septic evaluation within 30 days of a property transfer, the committee recommended sending a letter to affected homeowners explaining the requirement and why properly functioning septic systems matter for public health and lake quality. The group discussed a stepped response for noncompliant properties: an initial informational letter followed by consideration of a town ordinance next year that would create enforceable consequences for continued noncompliance.

The committee emphasized that buyers are required by existing transfer rules to submit evidence of an inspection and, if the inspection fails, a correction plan. Members did not record a formal vote on the outreach recommendation; next steps include finalizing the consolidated records and recommending a course of action to the select board.

The committee set no formal deadline for drafting the homeowner letter during the meeting; responsibility for data updates and further outreach was assigned to the septic subcommittee leads named during the report.