Chapter 13.35
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF SEWAGE TREATMENT WORKS

Sections:

Article I. Definitions

13.35.010  Generally.

13.35.020  Apartment house.

13.35.030  Duplex.

13.35.040  Dwelling unit.

13.35.050  Equivalent customer unit.

13.35.060  Hotel.

13.35.070  Industrial user.

13.35.080  Shall and may.

13.35.090  Superintendent.

13.35.100  User.

13.35.110  User charge.

Article II. Sewer User Charges

13.35.120  Equivalent customer units established.

13.35.130  Special users.

13.35.140  User charge within boundaries of LID No. 13.

13.35.150  User charge outside boundaries of LID No. 13.

13.35.160  Commencement of charges for occupied and unoccupied property.

13.35.170  Charges for single user having more than one classification of use.

13.35.180  Review of user charge.

13.35.190  Determination of incorrect assignment of user class – Reassignment.

13.35.200  Recordkeeping.

Article III. Review and Revision of Rates

13.35.210  Annual review of sewer user charges.

13.35.220  Reviewing authority – Date established.

Article IV. Responsibility, Payment Delinquencies and Penalties

13.35.230  Owner responsible for payment.

13.35.240  Billing schedule.

13.35.250  Due date – Delinquency.

13.35.260  Recovery of debt by civil action.

13.35.270  Delinquent payment penalty.

13.35.280  Sewer connection closure due to delinquency – Closure and restoration expense responsibility.

13.35.290  Restoration conditions.

13.35.300  Additional and concurrent methods of enforcing liens.

13.35.310  Change of ownership or occupancy no remedy to penalties.

Article V. Permit Fees, Connection Charges, Systems Development Fees and Standards for Sewer Extensions

13.35.320  Building sewer permit fee.

13.35.330  Connection charge within boundaries of LID No. 13.

13.35.340  Connection charge outside boundaries of LID No. 13.

13.35.350  Connection approval or denial.

13.35.360  Denial for good cause.

13.35.370  Conditional acceptance by town of sewer systems constructed by private developers.

Article VI. Appeals

13.35.380  Request for review of user charge.

13.35.390  Review – Substantiation determination.

13.35.400  Revised data approval – Recomputation of charges.

Article I. Definitions

13.35.010 Generally.

Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of terms used in this chapter shall be as set forth in this article. (Ord. 304, 1982)

13.35.020 Apartment house.

"Apartment house" shall mean any building, or portion thereof, which is designed, built, rented, leased, let or hired out to be occupied, or which is occupied as the home or residence of three or more families living independently of each other and doing their own cooking in the said building. (Ord. 304 Art. I § 1, 1982)

13.35.030 Duplex.

"Duplex" shall mean a house which has accommodations for two families to live independently of each other. (Ord. 304 Art. I § 2, 1982)

13.35.040 Dwelling unit.

"Dwelling unit" shall mean a single unit providing complete, independent living facilities for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation. (Ord. 304 Art. I § 3, 1982)

13.35.050 Equivalent customer unit.

"Equivalent customer unit" shall mean a unit of wastewater which, based upon standardized formulas and engineering analysis, incurs the same costs for operation and maintenance of a sewage treatment facility as does the discharge of domestic waste from a normal single-family residence. (Ord. 304 Art. I § 4, 1982)

13.35.060 Hotel.

"Hotel" shall mean any building containing three or more guest rooms intended or designed to be used, or which are used, rented or hired out to be occupied, or which are occupied for sleeping purposes by guests. (Ord. 304 Art. I § 5, 1982)

13.35.070 Industrial user.

"Industrial user" shall mean any nongovernmental user of the public treatment works identified in the Standards Industrial Classification Manual, 1972, United States Office of Management and Budget, as amended and supplemented, under the following divisions:

Division A: Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing;

Division B: Mining;

Division D: Manufacturing;

Division E: Transportation, Communications, Electric, Gas and Sanitary Services;

Division I: Services.

A user in these divisions may be excluded from the industrial category if it is determined that it will introduce primarily domestic wastes and wastes from sanitary conveniences. (Ord. 304 Art. I § 6, 1982)

13.35.080 Shall and may.

"Shall" is mandatory; "may" is permissible. (Ord. 304 Art. I § 7, 1982)

13.35.090 Superintendent.

"Superintendent" shall mean the public works superintendent of the town of Cathlamet or his designee. (Ord. 304 Art. I § 8, 1982)

13.35.100 User.

"User" shall mean every person or entity using any part of the public sewerage system of the town of Cathlamet. (Ord. 304 Art. I § 9, 1982)

13.35.110 User charge.

"User charge" shall mean the periodic charges levied on all users of the public sewerage system, and shall, at a minimum, cover each user’s proportionate share of the cost of operation and maintenance of said sewerage system. (Ord. 304 Art. I § 10, 1982)

Article II. Sewer User Charges

13.35.120 Equivalent customer units established.

For the purpose of assessing equitable user charges to each user of the public sewerage system of the town of Cathlamet, the following "equivalent customer units" are hereby established for the following user classes:

User Class	Equivalent Customer Units
(1) Single-family residence	1.0
(2) Multiple-family residence, duplex, apartment, trailer court	1.0 + 0.7 per each additional dwelling unit
(3) Hotel, motel	1.0 + 0.4 per rental unit
(4) Recreational vehicle parks	1.0 + 0.4 per rental unit (pad)
(5) Schools:
(a) Elementary (including old gymnasium)	1.0 per 25 students
(b) High school	1.0 per 15 students
(6) Other public facilities:
(a) Town park	1.0
(b) Marina	2.0
(c) Swimming pool	3.0
(d) Courthouse	6.0
(e) P.U.D.	2.0
(f) Town Hall	2.0
(7) Commercial
(a) Small shop, store, or business establishment	1.0
(b) Supermarkets, grocery stores	2.0
(c) Restaurant (with inside seating)	3.0 + 1.0 per each 20 seats over 40
(d) Drive-in (no inside seating)	2.0
(e) Tavern	3.0
(f) Coin laundry	0.7 per washing machine
(g) Professional office	1.0
(h) Nursing home	2.0 + 0.4 per bed
(8) Churches, service organizations, meeting halls	1.0

(Ord. 304 Art. II § 1, 1982)

13.35.130 Special users.

Any industrial user or any other user which cannot be classified in any of the user classes set forth in CMC 13.35.120 shall be considered a special user. Such user shall be placed in an open class and a special charge based on both volume and strength of waste shall be assigned to that user by the superintendent subject to the approval of the council. (Ord. 304 Art. II § 2, 1982)

13.35.140 User charge within boundaries of LID No. 13.

The monthly user charge for each user located within the boundaries of Local Improvement District No. 13 of the town of Cathlamet as established by Ordinance No. 280 shall be the sum of $15.00 per equivalent customer unit. (Ord. 439 § 1, 2002; Ord. 310 § 1, 1984; Ord. 304 Art. II § 3, 1982)

13.35.150 User charge outside boundaries of LID No. 13.

The monthly user charge for each user located outside the boundaries of Local Improvement District No. 13 of the town of Cathlamet as established by Ordinance No. 280 shall be the sum of $28.00 per equivalent customer unit. (Ord. 439 § 2, 2002; Ord. 310 § 2, 1984; Ord. 304 Art. II § 4, 1982)

13.35.160 Commencement of charges for occupied and unoccupied property.

The sewer user charge for all occupied property shall begin 90 days after the sewer service becomes available or the day that connection is made to the public sewer, whichever occurs first. (The sewer user charge for all unoccupied property shall begin within 30 days after the property is ready for occupancy or on the first day of occupancy, whichever occurs first. All unoccupied property which is ready for occupancy at the time the sewer service becomes available shall be treated as occupied property. Once the sewer user charge has commenced, no credit shall be given for vacancy). (Ord. 304 Art. II § 5, 1982)

13.35.170 Charges for single user having more than one classification of use.

(1) A single user having more than one classification of use shall be charged the sum of the charges for those classifications.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, a single-family residence single user having more than one classification of use within their residence shall only be charge the "equivalent customer units" for the highest user class. (Ord. 469 § 1, 2005; Ord. 304 Art. II § 6, 1982)

13.35.180 Review of user charge.

Should any user believe that he has been incorrectly assigned to a particular user class or incorrectly assigned a number of equivalent customer units, that user may apply for review of his user charge as provided in Article VI of this chapter. (Ord. 304 Art. II § 7, 1982)

13.35.190 Determination of incorrect assignment of user class – Reassignment.

Should the superintendent determine that a user is incorrectly assigned to a user class or incorrectly assigned a number of equivalent customer units, he shall reassign a more appropriate user class or number of equivalent customer units to that user and shall notify that user of such reassignment. (Ord. 304 Art. II § 8, 1982)

13.35.200 Recordkeeping.

Records of all assigned user classes and all assigned rates as well as the wastewater characteristics forming the basis of the equivalent customer unit shall be kept on file with the town clerk and shall be open for public inspection. (Ord. 304 Art. II § 9, 1982)

Article III. Review and Revision of Rates

13.35.210 Annual review of sewer user charges.

The sewer user charges established in Article II of this chapter shall, at a minimum, be reviewed annually and revised periodically to reflect actual costs of operation, maintenance, replacement and financing of the municipal sewerage system and to maintain the equitability of the user charges with respect to proportional distribution of the costs of operation and maintenance in proportion to each user’s contribution to the total wastewater loading of the sewerage system. (Ord. 304 Art. III § 1, 1982)

13.35.220 Reviewing authority – Date established.

User classes and equivalent customer unit computations shall be reviewed by the superintendent annually and shall be established as of January 1st of each calendar year. (Ord. 304 Art. III § 2, 1982)

Article IV. Responsibility, Payment Delinquencies and Penalties

13.35.230 Owner responsible for payment.

The person who owns the premises served by the sewerage system shall be responsible for payment of the sewer user charge for that property notwithstanding the fact that the property may be occupied by a tenant or other occupant who may be required by the owner to pay said charges. Only one bill per building sewer connected to the municipal sewerage system shall be prepared and issued by the town. (Ord. 316 § 1, 1984; Ord. 304 Art. IV § 1, 1982)

13.35.240 Billing schedule.

The users of the sewerage system shall be billed on a bi-monthly basis for services rendered in accordance with the rate schedule as set forth in Article II of this chapter. (Ord. 316 § 1, 1984; Ord. 304 Art. IV § 2, 1982)

13.35.250 Due date – Delinquency.

Sewer user charges shall be due and payable to the town treasurer no later than 15 days after the date of closing reflected on the billing. Sewer user charges shall be delinquent if not paid within 45 days after the date of closing reflected on the billing. (Ord. 316 § 1, 1984; Ord. 304 Art. IV § 3, 1982)

13.35.260 Recovery of debt by civil action.

Sewer user charges levied in accordance with this chapter shall be a debt due to the town and a lien upon the property served. If this debt is not paid prior to delinquency as defined in CMC 13.35.250, it may be recovered by civil action in the name of the town against the property owner, the user, or both. (Ord. 316 § 1, 1984; Ord. 304 Art. IV § 4, 1982)

13.35.270 Delinquent payment penalty.

In the event that sewer user charges are not paid prior to delinquency as defined in CMC 13.35.250, a penalty shall be assessed at the rate of $2.00 per month from the date of delinquency which shall be added to the user’s account. (Ord. 316 § 1, 1984; Ord. 304 Art. IV § 5, 1982)

13.35.280 Sewer connection closure due to delinquency – Closure and restoration expense responsibility.

After a two-month delinquent period, the occupant or occupants of the affected premises shall be given a 24-hour notice after which the town shall have the right to remove or close sewer connections and enter upon the property for accomplishing such purposes. The expense of such discontinuance, removal, or closing, as well as the expense of restoring service shall be a debt due to the town and a lien upon the property and may be recovered by civil action in the name of the town against the property owner, the user, or both. (Ord. 316 § 1, 1984; Ord. 304 Art. IV § 6, 1982)

13.35.290 Restoration conditions.

Sewer service shall not be restored until all charges, including the expense of removal, closing, and restoration, shall have been paid. (Ord. 316 § 1, 1984; Ord. 304 Art. IV § 7, 1982)

13.35.300 Additional and concurrent methods of enforcing liens.

As an additional and concurrent method of enforcing the lien authorized by this chapter and Chapter 35.67 RCW, the town may elect to enforce said lien by cutting off the water service from the premises to which sewer service was furnished after the sewer charges become delinquent and unpaid as defined by this article. (Ord. 316 § 1, 1984; Ord. 304 Art. IV § 8, 1982)

13.35.310 Change of ownership or occupancy no remedy to penalties.

Change of ownership or occupancy of premises found delinquent shall not be cause for reducing or eliminating the penalties set forth in this article. (Ord. 316 § 1, 1984; Ord. 304 Art. IV § 9, 1982)

Article V. Permit Fees, Connection Charges, Systems Development Fees and Standards for Sewer Extensions

13.35.320 Building sewer permit fee.

The fee for the building sewer permit required by virtue of CMC 13.25.380 shall be the sum of $25.00 payable upon submission of the building sewer permit application to the superintendent. (Ord. 304 Art. V § 1, 1982)

13.35.330 Connection charge within boundaries of LID No. 13.

For all property located within the boundaries of Local Improvement District No. 13 of the town of Cathlamet as established by Ordinance No. 280, there shall be levied and collected a sewer connection charge in the sum of $100.00 per equivalent customer unit for the privilege of connecting a building sewer to the town’s municipal sewerage system. This connection charge shall be payable at the time of making application for a building sewer permit. This connection charge shall not apply to property already connected to the town’s municipal sewerage system on May 13, 1982. (Ord. 304 Art. V § 2, 1982)

13.35.340 Connection charge outside boundaries of LID No. 13.

For all property not located within the boundaries of Local Improvement District No. 13 of the town of Cathlamet as established by Ordinance No. 280, no person shall hereafter be allowed to connect any sewer lines to the municipal sewerage system of the town of Cathlamet without first making application to the town of Cathlamet and without at the time of such application paying to the town treasurer a systems development fee in the sum of $1,000 per equivalent customer unit. (Ord. 304 Art. V § 3, 1982)

13.35.350 Connection approval or denial.

Upon receipt of an application for sewer connection made pursuant to CMC 13.35.340, the superintendent shall conduct an investigation to determine whether the applicant has complied with the requirements set forth in this article. Within 60 days of the receipt of such application, the superintendent shall submit a report to the council and such report shall include a recommendation as to whether or not the superintendent believes that the proposed connection would be in the best interests of the sewerage utility of the town of Cathlamet. Upon the receipt of said report, the council shall schedule a hearing after which the council will determine whether the application for connection to the municipal sewerage system should be granted or denied. The applicant shall be given at least five days’ notice prior to any such hearing. If the application is denied, the systems development fee shall be refunded to the applicant. (Ord. 304 Art. V § 4, 1982)

13.35.360 Denial for good cause.

The town may deny any application made under CMC 13.35.340 for good cause. Good cause includes, but is not limited to: (1) a finding by the town council that the applicant’s sewerage system does not meet the minimum construction requirements established by the superintendent and the Uniform Plumbing Code, 1982, and supplements thereto; (2) a finding by the town council that the applicant is not willing or able to turn ownership of any privately constructed trunk or collector sewers over to the town; (3) a finding by the town council that the applicant is unable or unwilling to comply with the provision of CMC 13.35.370; (4) a finding by the town council that further extensions of the municipal sewerage system would jeopardize the ability of the system to adequately serve then existing users. (Ord. 304 Art. V § 5, 1982)

13.35.370 Conditional acceptance by town of sewer systems constructed by private developers.

The town may accept for ownership, operation and maintenance sewer systems constructed by private developers or other private persons; provided, that all of the following conditions are met:

(1) A preliminary engineering report and final construction plans and specifications shall be prepared by a professional civil engineer licensed in the state of Washington. These documents shall be prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations of and meet the approval of the State Department of Social and Health Services and the State Department of Ecology. This report shall include costs of construction and operation and maintenance costs.

(2) The design of the system or systems shall be in harmony with any existing town general water and/or sewer plan for the area in which the system or systems is proposed.

(3) The engineering report and final plans must be approved by the town prior to any construction.

(4) The developer shall, prior to construction, enter into an agreement wherein deeds, easements, rights-of-way, licenses and permits required by the town to operate and maintain the system will be provided by the developer, at his expense, as a condition of acceptance by the town.

(5) All construction work must be inspected by a licensed professional engineer or his designated inspector and acknowledgment of acceptance of all work must be accompanied by said engineer’s seal. However, the town reserves the right to inspect any and all portions of the job at the discretion of the superintendent. Any plan or specification changes must be approved by the state of Washington and the superintendent.

(6) The town will require a one-year maintenance bond on all sewer systems accepted by the town to insure the correction of any faulty equipment or construction. Such maintenance bond will in no way waive the manufacturer’s warranty.

(7) One copy plus one reproducible copy of the "as built" sewer plans shall be submitted to the superintendent.

(8) The town will not accept the liability for or the ownership of any sewer system in any other manner than by a resolution passed by the town council. (Ord. 304 Art. V § 6, 1982)

Article VI. Appeals

13.35.380 Request for review of user charge.

Any sewer user who feels his sewer user charge is unjust and inequitable as applied to his premises within the intent of the foregoing provisions of this chapter may make written application to the town council requesting a review of his user charge. Said written request shall, where necessary, show the actual or estimated average flow of his wastewater in comparison with the values upon which the charge is based, including how the measurements or estimates were made. (Ord. 304 Art. VI § 1, 1982)

13.35.390 Review – Substantiation determination.

Review of the request shall be made by the town council after consultation with the superintendent. The council shall determine whether the a request is substantiated or not. If the council determines that further information is necessary in order to fairly evaluate the request, the council may, prior to making its determination, refer the matter to the superintendent or a registered professional engineer for further study. (Ord. 304 Art. VI § 2, 1982)

13.35.400 Revised data approval – Recomputation of charges.

If the request is determined by the council to be substantiated, the user charges for that user shall be recomputed based upon the approved revised data and the new charges thus recomputed shall be applicable retroactively up to six months, as applicable under the circumstances. (Ord. 304 Art. VI § 3, 1982)