(a) The County Executive through the Department of Sanitary Sewer Services, upon discovery of any: (i) improper or illegal storm water inflows or (ii) inflow and/or infiltration from damaged private sanitary sewer laterals, into the sanitary sewer maintained and operated by the County within the Summit County Metropolitan Sewer District, may do or require of any necessary property owner any of the following:
(1) Disconnect improper or illegal storm water inflows to sanitary sewers maintained and operated by the County or any improper or illegal connection to that improper or illegal storm water inflow;
(2) Reconnect or relocate any such disconnected improper or illegal storm water inflows in compliance with all County Ordinances, applicable building codes, health codes, or other relevant codes;
(3) Repair any damaged sanitary sewer lateral located on private property that is causing inflow and infiltration into the County operated sanitary sewer system;
(4) Prevent sanitary sewer back-ups into properties that have experienced one or more overflows of sanitary sewers maintained and operated by the County.
The County Executive, through the Department of Sanitary Sewer Services, shall notify any necessary property owner, in writing, via certified and regular first class mail delivery, of any required action pursuant to division (a) of this Section. Said notice shall state: (i) the required action that must be undertaken by the property owner; (ii) that, unless said action is commenced within thirty (30) days, the County may enter upon the property and perform the required action; and (iii) that the property owner shall be assessed for any action taken by the County pursuant to this Section, and the approximate amount of the assessment. The County shall not commence any construction to effectuate the required action until, at least, the expiration of the thirty (30) days contained in said notice.
(b) Any improper or illegal storm water inflow required to be disconnected or any sanitary sewer back-up required to be prevented division (a) of this section constitutes a nuisance subject to injunctive relief and abatement pursuant to Chapter 3767 of the Ohio Revised Code or as otherwise permitted by law.
(c) The County Executive, upon the authorization of County Council, may use sewer district funds and/or, to the extent permitted by their terms, loans, grants, or other moneys from appropriate state or federal funds, for the cost of disconnections, reconnections, relocations, repair or sewer back-up prevention performed by the County pursuant to division (a) of this section.
(d) The County Executive shall obtain reimbursement of moneys expended pursuant to division (c) of this section by a special assessment levied against any property that is the source of the improper or illegal storm water inflow or upon which a damaged sanitary sewer lateral is located, payable within fifteen years, with interest at the rate equal to the Prime Rate as published in the Wall Street Journal, adjusted annually as that Rate appears on the first day of January each year, but shall never exceed ten (10) percent per annum. The County Executive, through the Department of Sanitary Sewer Services, shall certify the assessments to the County Fiscal Officer, stating the amount and time of payment. The County Fiscal Officer shall record the information in the county sewer improvement record, showing separately the assessments to be collected, and shall place the assessments upon the real property tax list and duplicate for collection. The assessments shall be a lien on the property from the date they are placed on the tax list and duplicate and shall be collected in the same manner as other taxes.
(e) Disconnections, reconnections, relocations, repairs or sewer back-up prevention required under this section and performed by a contractor under contract with the property owner shall not be considered a "public improvement," and those performed by the County shall be considered a "public improvement" as defined in section 4115.03 of the Ohio Revised Code.
Disconnections, reconnections, relocations, repairs or sewer back-up prevention required under this section performed by a contractor under contract with the property owner shall not be subject to competitive bidding or public bond laws.
(f) Property owners shall be responsible for maintaining any improvements made on private property pursuant to this section unless a public easement exists for the County to maintain that improvement.
(Res. 2008-353. Adopted 9-15-08; Ord. 2015-555. Adopted 12-14-15.)