Village to terminate sewer agreement with Columbia Township

By John Hummer
Editor

At its Monday meeting, the Brooklyn Village Council voted 6-1 to terminate its contract with Columbia Township as the provider of operations and management of the township’s sewer system.

The official termination of the contract will take place once a certified letter is sent by the village, as well as hand-delivered, to the township notifying it of the village’s desire to terminate the contract and after the village implements the termination process prescribed by the contract.

A fact sheet prepared for the village council by Village Manager Scott Czasak states, in part, “Due to the stress of handling this level of service on our DPW Department there has been staff turnover and burnout of remaining staff. Moreover, Columbia recently put out a Request for Proposals (RFP) for their Sewer Operation and Maintenance Services, indicating a desire on their part to shop for new possibilities for this function.”

Regarding financial impacts to the village, Czasak stated there will be a loss in revenue from the termination of the agreement but pointed out that, since Columbia Township is the bulk of the village’s call outs, there will be cost savings of staff time and village resources.

“This is not an action taken lightly; however it has become apparent that the costs of providing this service to the Township at this time do not outweigh the benefits,” the factsheet states. “The interests of the Village must come first, and it is in the best interest of the Village to focus our attention on the Village proper and review our remaining O&M agreements as they come up for renewal.”

Council member Gabriella Bach asked how much of a financial impact ending the contract would have on the village. Looking at the current fiscal year numbers during the course of the meeting, Village Clerk Mick Linderman stated there would be about $27,000 of net gain lost by the village from the contract termination.

There will be more information to come in next weeks edition of The Exponent