By David Fleet
Editor
Ortonville- On Monday night the village council voted 4-3 to not renew the MiWaters Michigan Department of Environmental Quality National Pollutant Discharge System permit for the village. The motion was made by council member Dan Eschmann, seconded by Mark Butzu to not pursue or renew the wastewater treatment plant permit issued in 2014. Council members Mark Butzu, Dan Eschmann, Coleen Skornicka and Karen Sleva voted to not renew. Council members Tonja Brice, Keith Dylus and President Wayne Wills voted to renew.
The NPDS permit was obtained by the village and required by the MDEQ to control the discharge of pollutants into surface waters by imposing effluent limitations to protect the environment. It is required by anyone discharging, or proposing to discharge, waste or wastewater into the surface waters such as the Kearsley Creek. The yearly cost to renew the permit, which was in the village budget was $1,950.
“This is the permit for our sanitary waste discharge into Kearsley Creek,” explained John Lyons, interim village manager. “It’s a difficult permit to get if we let it lapse. They just don’t hand those things out.”
Lyon’s estimated the cost for a new permit is this lapses is $15,000 to $20,000.
“(If not renewed) you have to do this all over again,” he said. “My issue with the (non renewal) is there are property owners and businesses in the village that are currently active in trying to put something together that’s not publicly funded on their own (for sewers). If we give up this permit it will take away their possibility of using our discharge permit to operate.”
Lyon’s said it would not be a private system however the village would maintain control. Also, the funding would come from private and business owners.
“My suggestion, because it is so difficult to get, is to go ahead and extend it for at least one year and give these people time to get something together if they can.”
Wayne Wills, council president was outraged at the decision.

“The fact that you are not wanting to spend $1,950 to support the business needs of our community in unconscionable to me,” he told the council.
Several on the council emphasized that currently there are no plans from business owners to use the permit or start another sewer project.
“This downtown deserves more than what this council is willing to give it,” added Wills. “I’m really upset. If four or five businesses want to ban together for a (sewer) system because it’s the most cost effective for them to share their expense and we are standing in their way how are we supporting them?”
Butzu and others suggested if a business has to repair a septic system is part of doing business.
“Just because you run a business does not mean you walk on water,” he said. “They make mistakes or errors. If you have to put money into your building it’s not the council’s problem.”
Council member Brice, who supported the permit emphasized that while the voters shot down sewers in the village due to the cost, businesses should have some a say in the issue too.