(A) Any person aggrieved by an action of the township or the Connection Inspector pursuant to this chapter may appeal in writing to the Township Clerk who shall transmit the appeal to the Township Board. That body shall, at its next regular meeting, either decide to itself hear the appeal as the appeal panel or appoint a separate appeal panel of not less than three persons who may be township officers or employees (provided they are not subordinates to the official from whom the appeal was made), consultants, engineers, attorneys or others and need not be township residents.
(B) The written appeal shall state with specificity the issue being appealed, the basis for the appeal, the supporting facts for the appeal, the supporting legal basis, if any, for the appeal, the relief sought and any other information deemed relevant to the appeal and shall have attached all supporting documents.
(C) The appeal panel shall provide the appellant and the official from whom the appeal was made notice of the time and place for a hearing on the appeal which shall not be more than 60 days after the appeal was filed and of the rules and procedures to be followed at the hearing. The hearing may be informal and need not follow any formal rules of evidence.
(D) The appeal panel shall, within 30 days after the hearing and any time after the hearing allowed for the filing of supplemental information, render its decision in writing. It may affirm the decision of the official from whom the appeal was made, reverse that decision or modify the decision. It may also condition its decision with terms the appeal panel deems necessary to assure the protection of the public health, safety and welfare, and the protection of the system.
(E) If the appellant does not prevail in the appeal, the appeal panel may order the appellant to pay all costs incurred by the township or by a constituent municipality as a result of the appeal.
(F) The decision of the hearing panel shall be final.
(Ord. passed 7-10-2013)