Letter About Meeting with MSD/Health Department

Date: March 31, 2011




To: Mr. Tony Parrott, Director

Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD)

1600 Gest Street

Cincinnati OH 45204



Fr: Joseph Gorman, President

(513) 325-5202 cell; jgorman@fuse.net



Re: March 29, 2011 Meeting on Proposed Sewers in the View Place Neighborhood



I attended the March 29, 2011 Meeting on Proposed Sewers in the View Place Neighborhood as a representative of the Finneytown Civic Association (FCA). The View Place neighborhood is part of Finneytown and the FCA has several members in that area.



The meeting was called to order by Donna Saul, president of the View Place Improvement Association. One-hundred and forty (145) households have been identified as potential problem properties that will apparently have to transition from septic tanks to public sewers. MSD reps Brent Tuley and Bill Wooten, and, Chris Griffin from the Cincinnati Health Department presented information on this transition process, including bringing a petition for these residents to vote on this project. No proposed sewer locations were presented by MSD, and therefore, people voting on the petition were not fully informed as to what they were voting for.



Springfield Township trustees, staff, and the FCA were not invited by MSD or the health department to participate in this meeting. MSD should have done a better job notifying community stakeholders and be a bit more sensitive to the affected households. The idea that a household will be spending at minimum $12,000 for a sewer connection is daunting. Many residents left the meeting confused, angry, uninformed, and, probably not in the mood to participate in communications with MSD.



Please do a better job connecting with the community when homeowners must face expensive and impactful sewer projects. In these tough economic times, with rising sewer costs, many homeowners, who, on the edge of financial despair, may have to decide to either save their homes and install new sewers, or, simply walk away and abandon their house.



The FCA is having a regular meeting, Monday, April 25 at 6700 Winton Road at 7 p.m. We invite MSD to attend this meeting. I am sure many questions involving the sewer project will be forthcoming. The FCA will also help spread the word for future MSD meetings in Finneytown.



Cc: Springfield Township Trustees; View Place Improvement Association