To their surprise, village officials learned recently Lake Orion is the only community in Oakland County that doesn’t require a surety bond for disconnecting or connecting into the sanitary sewer system.
And according to village manager JoAnn Van Tassel, they didn’t know they didn’t require bonding.
That information was revealed when a contractor applied to the village to disconnect a sanitary sewer lead. He was told by a village employee he needed to be bonded through the Oakland County Drain Commissioner’s office which maintains the sewer system in the village.
The contractor contacted the village and said the county told him the village doesn’t require bonding from contractors doing work on sewer systems.
Van Tassel said, after some investigation, it was discovered the village council voted in August 1972 to inform the county it wouldn’t be requiring any bonding.
Council members on Jan. 13 decided it was time to start requiring bonding.