When she put a house on West John Street up for sale recently, Patti Savage-McNamara got an expensive surprise thanks to Maumee’s new sewer-inspection requirement.
The newly mandated inspection, she said, resulted in an order to do $46,500 worth of work to comply with city regulations: $20,000 to replace a clay pipe in the house’s sewer feed, and $26,500 to put a sump pump in its unfinished basement.
“I literally started crying in the driveway. How did I get in this mess?” Ms. Savage-McNamara told The Blade before a community meeting she organized Monday evening to dig into Maumee’s new inspection rules and brainstorm ways they might be changed.
Six hundred people — many with “Trapped in Maumee” signs — packed the Elks Lodge on Wayne Street, while hundreds more were turned away and told they could watch a livestream.
Tom Osinski, of Inwood Place, said he received a list of repairs costing between $20,000 and $40,000 after the inspection of a house he’s trying to sell in Maumee.
“This is not fair to us. It’s not fair to the buyer,” he said.
Garrett Luhring, of Danberry Co. Realtors, said 48 homes in Maumee are currently under contract or contingent for sale. The city’s median home sale price as of January was $270,000.
“Homeowners are going to get hit on their equity when they go to sell,” he said. “We’re the only area that’s going to take this direct hit. No other cities have implemented this.”
Dana Johnson, who owns multiple properties in Maumee, said he expects the new ordinance could cost him $300,000.
City officials are peddling “EPA nonsense,” he said, and “must recant and alter their course.”
Pat McNamara, Ms. Savage-McNamara’s husband, said they will summarize their concerns and give them to Mayor Jim MacDonald on Tuesday. They are prepared to pursue legal action, he said.
Councilman Margo Puffenberger said in a telephone interview earlier Monday that the city sewer inspections are a consequence of the city’s U.S. Environmental Protection Agency order to fix its illegal sewage discharges into the Maumee River.
“These are not choices that I want to make,” she said. “We’re in a very precarious situation with what previous staff did. People didn’t do what they should have done and now the can has been kicked down the road. This is the first step to fix this.”
A majority of homes inspected since the city ordinance took effect have turned out to have connection issues, Ms. Puffenberger said.
“The data is starting to come in and it’s showing residences are a huge problem,” she said.
Maumee officials self-reported in 2020 that the city had been fouling the river for 25 years with millions of gallons of illegal raw sewage — a practice the city’s former mayor told The Blade in July, 2021 blamed on former city employees’ blatant disregard for EPA regulations.
The city and the federal agency that month signed an agreement under which Maumee had three years to develop an engineering fix and until 2051 to complete the remedial work.
The city’s plan includes lining or replacing sanitary sewer mains and disconnecting storm sewers that were tied improperly to the sanitary system.
City council first considered the sewer inspection ordinance at a June 10 meeting attended by 50 people.
The ordinance to check for illicit sewer connections as part of house-sale listings received a first reading and had been expected to be approved at the next meeting, July 22, but instead was approved during a special meeting July 2 that started at 6:30 a.m.
Mayor MacDonald said he set a 7 p.m. Tuesday meeting in the city administration building to better explain the inspection law and the history behind it.
“So people have an understanding of why the ordinance is needed and what position the city is in to fix the issues,” Mayor MacDonald said. “We’re under EPA mandates.”
The mayor said some false information is circulating. Homes with sewer problems can still be sold, he said, and if an inspection turns up a sewer connection issue, money can be put in escrow.
“It’s not going to disrupt somebody’s closing,” Mayor MacDonald said. “It could be negotiated by the buyer and the seller.”
This is similar to an inspection showing a roof needs to be replaced, he said.
Mayor MacDonald also said his staff has spent hours — one recently devoted an entire day — looking for grant funding and financial assistance.
“We’re just not finding anything,” he said.
Ms. Savage-McNamara said she has talked to an attorney about a possible lawsuit against the city, but she’s hoping they collaborate on a better solution.
“You can’t just throw this at somebody and turn their world upside down,” she said. “They’re elected by the people. They should want to help their constituents.”
Councilman Philip Leinbach is open to more discussion.
“Not everything is a negotiation, if you will, but we need to listen to them,” he said Monday afternoon. “I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to have some reconsideration.”
Mr. Leinbach, who attended and spoke at Monday’s meeting, urged residents to go to the meeting Tuesday and listen to the mayor.
Patrick Burtch, the city administrator, said Maumee tried voluntary compliance regarding residential sewer connections. Letters were sent to 108 homeowners in “hot spots” suspected of having improper sewer connections, but only five responded.
Ms. Puffenberger said she’s spent hours researching and getting educated on the sewer issues.
“When we dump, it goes into the Maumee River, which goes into the lake, which impacts a lot of people,” Ms. Puffenberger said. “I mean, we’re putting sewage into the river and the EPA is investigating us. We can’t say, sorry EPA, our residents don’t feel this is something they want to spend their money on.”
Ms. Savage-McNamara’s moved her meeting, originally planned for Tuesday, after the mayor set his for Tuesday. Mayor MacDonald said he scheduled his session based on when he, his staff, and council were available.
“We thought it was urgent that we do it,” the mayor said, adding the city meeting will “get to everybody, not just one group” and prevent a city council meeting next week from being overwhelmed by sewer inspection discussion.
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