[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of
Lawrence 8-5-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-09.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Sewer and water — See Ch. 96.
The Board of Supervisors of Lawrence Township, Clearfield County, finds
it desirable to enact this chapter to:
A.
Protect the health, safety and welfare of the residents
and landowners of the Township.
This chapter is adopted pursuant to power granted in:
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
The Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act, Act 537 of 1966 (35 P.S.
§ 750 et seq.) as amended or as it may be amended from time to time.
The multimunicipal local agency being the subject of this chapter
to be known as the Clearfield County Sewage Agency.
The governing body of the agency through which all policy-making
powers granted to the agency are exercised.
Regulations adopted pursuant to the Act and more specifically identified
as Pennsylvania Code, Title 25, Environmental Resources.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
The Board of Supervisors of the Township.
Lawrence Township, Clearfield County.
The governing body hereby:
A.
Acknowledges and authorizes the agency for the purposes
described herein;
B.
To the extent that action by the governing body heretofore
has been insufficient to create or join a multimunicipal local agency, the
governing body hereby creates, constitutes and establishes the agency for
the purposes described herein;
C.
Acknowledges and hereby confirms its conveyance and delegation
of authority to the agency for the enforcement and administration of all three
aspects of the Sewage Facilities Act and regulations promulgated thereunder,
including specifically, Sections 7, 8, 12, 13, 13.1, 14, 15 and 16 of the
Act;
D.
Directs the Board at all times to act in a manner consistent
with the Act and regulations promulgated thereunder as well as the provisions
of this chapter;
E.
Authorizes and directs the agency to act on behalf of
the governing body to issue, deny or revoke permits, conduct inspections,
abate nuisances and health hazards arising from malfunctioning on-lot disposal
systems, conduct hearings, prosecute violators and apply for operating grants
from the Department or any other entity; and
F.
Directs the Board to establish and pledges to pay in
a timely manner initial and annual membership fees adequate to provide the
agency with liquid fiscal resources to establish itself and continue to operate
while awaiting receipt of reimbursement grants from the Department.
The Board of the agency shall consist of one member to be appointed
by each member municipality who shall be a resident of that municipality.
Board members shall serve for a period of five years from the date of their
appointment or until their successor is appointed. Board members may succeed
themselves. Any vacancy shall be filled by the municipality appointing the
Board member to fill the unexpired term. Nine members of the Board shall constitute
a quorum. All action may be taken by a vote of a majority of the members present
unless the bylaws shall require a larger number.
In addition to the powers and duties generally enumerated hereinbefore,
the agency shall:
A.
Prepare and adopt bylaws that:
(1)
Set forth the method by which the agency shall conduct
business;
(2)
Establish meeting times and dates;
(3)
Create any necessary subcommitees;
(4)
Establish fees for the various permits and services performed
by the agency or the staff; and
(5)
Create a hearing board to conduct hearings regarding
permit denials and other SEO actions.
B.
Prepare and adopt an annual budget.
C.
Prepare an annual application to obtain a reimbursement
grant from the Department.
D.
Prepare and submit annual reports to participating municipalities.
E.
Hire, fire, promote and discipline personnel necessary
to conduct the business of the agency and set their rates of compensation.
F.
Secure by contract, or other arrangement, services including
legal counsel, as may be necessary or desirable to advance the work of the
agency.
If any sentence, clause, section, part or article of this chapter is
for any reason found to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid, such finding
shall not impair, affect or have similar effect upon any of the remaining
sentences, clauses, sections, parts or articles, it is hereby declared that
the intent of this governing body would have been to enact and adopt the remainder
of the chapter as if the unconstitutional, illegal or invalid portions had
not been included in the original enactment.
A.
The participation in the agency by the governing body
shall begin on the effective date of this chapter, which shall remain in effect
no less than two years after which it may be terminated through the repeal
of this chapter.
B.
The governing body may, upon 90 days' written notice
to the Board, withdraw from the agency through the repeal of this chapter.
(1)
During the interval between receipt of written notice pursuant to Subsection B and the actual date of withdrawal, the Committee shall not accept, process, or otherwise act upon new applications for on-lot sewage disposal systems in the municipality which has served notice of intent to withdraw.
(2)
The agency shall notify interested parties and applicants
of the impending change of administration and will, to the best of its ability,
refer interested parties to the succeeding SEO/MMLA.
(3)
All applications in progress, when notice of intent to
withdraw is received, shall be advanced through issuance/denial in a timely
manner and, in all cases, before the withdrawal becomes effective.
C.
After the effective date of this chapter, the governing
body acknowledges and agrees that any other municipality beyond the original
participating municipalities may choose to become a member by adopting this
chapter in full.
(1)
All work on an application for an on-lot sewage disposal
system permit then in progress shall be turned over to the agency for completion
by the agency's SEO, and the new member shall pay, on behalf of the permittee,
all fees and costs associated with the completion of the application and permit
when any of the following conditions apply:
(2)
In the event that a system is installed using a valid
permit issued by a prior SEO, and in the event that the prior SEO has been
compensated for the installation inspection portion of the application/permitting
process, the issuing SEO shall be responsible for the installation inspection,
provided he is a currently certified SEO.
(3)
In the event that a system is installed using a valid
permit issued by a prior SEO, and the issuing SEO is no longer a certified
SEO by reason of retirement from the activities of SEO, then the member shall
pay, on behalf of the permittee, all fees and costs associated with the installation
inspection which shall be completed by the agency's SEO.
(4)
In the event that a permit was issued by a prior SEO
and the issuing SEO is no longer a certified SEO by reason of a certification
revocation action by the Department of Environmental Protection or the voluntary
surrender of his certification to avoid prosecution, then the agency shall,
in it sole discretion, evaluate the outstanding permits and may require retesting
and/or system redesign by the agency's employees, the costs of which
shall be borne by the member on behalf of the permittee.
(5)
Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit the member
from recovering any paid but unearned compensation or wages from the prior
SEO.
(6)
Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit the member
from recovering the costs of retesting or redesign when the actions of the
former SEO were contrary to the Act or regulations.
D.
In the event that it becomes necessary to change this
chapter in whole or in part, no changes shall become effective and no new
or altered obligation or duty shall be placed upon the agency, and no change
in the terms of this chapter shall become effective until such time as every
participating municipality shall have adopted an identical amendatory ordinance.
The governing body hereby acknowledges that its previous formal actions
with regard to the Clearfield County Sewage Committee may have been inadequate,
incomplete or ambiguous. Also, the Governing Body acknowledges that even though
the Clearfield County Sewage Committee purported to dissolve itself and the
governing body enacted a resolution on purporting to acknowledge this dissolution,
that as a matter of law the Committee lacked the power to dissolve its agency,
and in fact, the Committee continued to function as a local agency under Section
2 of the Sewage Facilities Act for the governing body and the member municipalities.
To the greatest extent legally possible, the governing body hereby ratifies
the actions of the Clearfield County Sewage Committee from May 10, 2002, until
the effective date of this chapter. It is hereby stated to be the desire of
Lawrence Township that the Committee be reauthorized and reconstituted as
a multimunicipal agency without lapse or break in service.
