By Chelsea Los
InkFreeNews

SYRACUSE — While the district started the evening with celebrations and cheers, the night ended with serious consideration on how to be most helpful to some of its newest customers.

Turkey Creek Regional Sewer District met Monday evening, Dec. 20, to review projects and talk about the upcoming year right after sharing a meal together for the annual holiday party at The Sleepy Owl.

While the district has continued to focus on preventative maintenance and running its system in a way that never gets them close to capacity, they have begun to plan ahead for adding revenue and staying true to their word of sewering the area and (ideally) removing septic systems.

Attorney for the district, Andy Boxberger, shared an opportunity with the board to get its customers COVID relief funds through a local program. This would allow customers to get assistance paying their utilities when they have fallen behind.

The board intends to publish this information in a letter to each current customer, hopefully offering a helpful option for people who may be struggling in silence.

When it comes to the addition of new customers and the ongoing project to add sewers around the remainder of Syracuse, Jeff Hersha provided a few noteworthy details to share. Hersha has been working with district superintendent Timothy Woodward to make sure each property owner provides a stake directing the district on where they would prefer their grinder pump location. Although the project has barely taken off after waiting on a slew of approvals, approximately 55 of the 177 customers have provided that stake location already.

Last month Woodward was alerted by the Department of Homeland Security about a possible fine due to lack of compliance for some storage tanks. Because the storage tanks only hold water and are never heated or pressurized, they fell between the cracks on how they are regulated. To be fully compliant, the board has agreed to add pressure release, which will require a complete drain and boil advisory for the district. This will allow Woodward to collect bacteria samples as well as avoid any kind of fines from DHS.

After the board reviewed details of current projects, James Boone opened the floor to the public. Local customers Roger Snyder and Brian Watkins both presented the board with similar requests — help us get connected in the future.

Snyder indicated he had installed the “Cadillac” of septic systems just seven years ago and is now looking at flushing that $40,000 expense down the toilet to connect to the sewers. Snyder presented the board with his situation indicating he is “begging“ for any kind of assistance. His proposition was this: he would waive the final 10 years of his possible exemption meaning he is opting to remove his septic tank after 10 years instead of 20, and asked the district to make sure there is a tap available during this current project even though he would not be connecting for a couple of years after it is available.

The district went back-and-forth about this, reminding the public there has been a pretty black-and-white policy of not adding a tap to connect to any vacant properties. However, they acknowledge this is clearly not a vacant property and the potential for Snyder to sign a contract obligating him to connect based on the terms he presented himself.

Watkins indicated he had two property lots and would be building right away on one after tearing down the existing structure. The next one he is undecided on whether he would be selling or building on. His request was to make sure the district added a tap to both lots instead of the existing one currently planned.

The board did not make a decision on either request, but indicated they had a couple of months to make the final decision and ensure they were applying their decision fairly across the district. The board will meet again at 7 p.m. Jan. 17.