(A) Authority. The city owns and operates the Wastewater Utility. I.C. 36-9-2-16 authorizes a municipality to regulate the furnishing of the service of collecting, processing, and disposing of waste substances and domestic or sanitary sewage to the public. I.C. 36-9-2-18 authorizes a municipality to exercise powers granted by I.C. 36-9-2-16 in areas within four miles outside its corporate boundaries. I.C. 8-1.5-6 et seq. authorizes the city to adopt a regulatory ordinance which is then submitted to the State Utility Regulatory Commission for its review and approval. The regulatory ordinance allows the municipality to regulate the furnishing of Wastewater Utility service in areas within four miles outside the city’s corporate boundaries.
(B) Agreement.
(1) Pursuant to an agreement between Hancock County Rural Telephone Corporation d/b/a NineStar Connect and the city, the parties agreed to an exclusive wastewater service area for the city within four miles of the city’s corporate limits.
(2) The county regional water and sewer district adopted a consent to transfer certified territorial authority, a copy of which is attached to Ordinance 2016-5 as Exhibit A, in which it approved and ratified the agreement.
(3) The agreement, a copy of which is attached to Ordinance 2016-5 as Exhibit B, is hereby approved. In approving the agreement, the city understands and affirms that the agreement and Ordinance 2016-5 shall not, in any way, prevent the city from:
(a) Later seeking and obtaining from the county regional water and sewer district the right to serve any area within the district’s jurisdiction;
(b) Retaining any and all rights to acquire any or all of NineStar’s assets used in providing wastewater services in the additional service area; or
(c) Exercising any power it has under I.C. 8-1.5-1-1 et seq. or 36-9-23-1 et seq.
(C) Wastewater service area.
(1) The wastewater service area is hereby defined and established as those areas within the corporate boundaries of the city, as well as certain areas within four miles outside the city’s boundaries, as shown on the map attached to Ordinance 2016-5 as Exhibit C.
(2) Upon the adoption of Ordinance 2016-5 and its approval by the State Utility Regulatory Commission, the Wastewater Utility shall hold an exclusive license to furnish wastewater service within the wastewater service area, and the Wastewater Utility shall be the exclusive provider of wastewater to the public within the wastewater service area.
(3) (a) Upon the adoption of Ordinance 2016-5 and its approval by the State Utility Regulatory Commission, no other utilities are permitted to provide wastewater service within the city, or within the wastewater service area.
(b) This chapter does not:
1. Mandate the city to extend service to areas where technically or financially not feasible; or
2. Prevent the use of on-site disposal systems where the city does not have facilities available.
(c) Rather, it expressly prohibits other utilities from furnishing wastewater service to users within the city or within the wastewater service area.
(4) No end service user shall permit a connection to wastewater service within the wastewater service area by any other wastewater service provider.
(5) The city’s existing rules and regulations for wastewater service, as amended from time to time, shall apply to and within the wastewater service area.
(Ord. 2019-25, passed on 5-13-2020)