County water board offers property damage settlement

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct information regarding the number of people who have been added to and subtracted from the water district.

The board members of Public Water Supply District No. 5 heard opposition Tuesday to details of a settlement to satisfy claims of construction damage to residents' property.

The district voted to incorporate in 2001 and it has taken more than 10 years to realize its original plan of supplying public water lines to residents of the rural Egypt Mills community near Nell Holcomb School District.

When plans were drafted, Yupic Lane was thought to be a public road. It is actually private, and construction was done with greater easements and access than should have been allowed. After multiple complaints from residents, the board has filed a claim against the title company that handled the original agreement because of problems caused by the misinformation.

Over the summer, several people complained that the road sustained extensive damage, including potholes, open ditches, a broken bridge and 8 inches of sinkage from heavy equipment. The lane was chip-and-sealed in 2007 at resident expense.

The board offered Yupic Lane residents $10,260 -- one-third of the cost to pave the road with three inches of asphalt and similar to the cost of the previous chip and seal resurfacing.

Nancy Browne, lawyer for the board, said the money would cover road damage from construction and also remaining property easements from residents so the district can set water lines to reach the remaining two families in the original plan. The amount would be payable upon completion of construction of the new water lines, which hopefully will occur in the next few weeks.

Barbara Lueder said that she and her husband Rick were against the offer. She told the board that damages to the road and bridge beyond the surfaced portion that lead to their home would not be covered by the payment and needed to be included.

Board president Judy Foeste said efforts are being made to rectify the problems. She said most residents affected have felt their complaints have been adequately addressed but a few remain discontent. The board made plans for the board engineer to assess Lueder's road Thursday along with other properties.

"We are trying to satisfy them and we are hoping we will be able to," Foeste said.

Canceling contracts

Area residents also sought updates on their requests to cancel their contracts with the water district.

The district needed 189 subscribers to attain USDA Rural Development funding to lay the infrastructure for the water lines. Fees from individual homes would provide ongoing funding. It initially recruited 194 members.

Last month fifteen asked to be released, which threatened to decrease the subscribers to fewer than 189. Since then, new subscribers have been added that will make up for the loss. Dropping below 189 would violate the terms of their USDA agreement.

Foeste cited routine reasons for cancellation, such as elderly people on fixed incomes who could not continue to pay the base amount and subscribers who decided they preferred their wells to the public supply.

Lueder had a different take. She feels the reasons were a combination of everyday decisions and bad blood.

Although the district contracts are binding, the board said they were allowing the cancellations to preserve positive relations despite objection by the USDA representative, Phyllis Minner. Browne said future cancellation requests could cause a critical funding risk to the whole district.

The next meeting of Public Water Supply District No. 5 is at 12:30 p.m. Dec. 13 at Foeste Masonry.

salderman@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

347 County Road 649, Cape Girardeau, MO