Couple airs sewer woes at council meeting / By Martha Knight

Shaun and Heather Nance brought their concerns about their recent sewer woes to the Port Allegany Borough Council meeting Monday night.

They brought with them a sheaf of bills and cost estimates, some photographs on a cell phone, and the contractor who has been helping them, Mark Howard.

All three spoke during the public comments portion of the meeting, undeterred by a statement borough manager Richard Kallenborn had read from his monthly report earlier in the meeting. Part of it said, “Since the sewer problem located at 108 Katherine St. has been discussed in the papers and litigation may be involved, I have been advised not to discuss these matters in a public meeting.” He did not say who had provided that advice.

Shaun Nance said, “I don’t know what that litigation and stuff was about,” and explained that he and his wife were “trying to understand why” a sewer clog near their Katherine Street Extension home had been handled as it had.

As they and Howard see it, the true location of the clog could have been determined much earlier, and the family saved much hardship and expense. For instance, flushing down a dye pellet at a residence up the street from the Nance home would have been done earlier. The dye had proved that sewage was backing up into the Nance home from the sewer main.

Shaun’s wife Heather, a local elementary school teacher, spoke next, saying, “We have had a lot of expenses… We were out of our home five nights.” The couple have five children, including a pre-schooler.

Heather Nance said the family had been fortunate in  that her family lives in the area and they could take refuge there while their home was uninhabitable. Shaun Nance had stayed at the home to protect it and its contents, and work on the problem as much as possible. He took several days off work to cope with the emergency.

Howard took up the narrative, reading from detailed notes, describing point by point what he and helpers had observed, and their dealings with the borough public works crew and Kallenborn.

Howard described measures he and Shaun Nance had taken, some of which he said proved that the obstruction had not been in the Nance property’s lateral, but in the borough sewer line. He said if those involved from the borough end had listened to him or the owners, this would have been known and acted upon, saving much trouble and expense.

After 10 minutes borough council president Andrew Johnson interrupted Howard and said the council was not prepared to allow the presentation to go on indefinitely.

Howard had described some interaction with an unnamed borough employee and with Kallenborn.

Heather spoke up again. “I have lived here all my life,” she noted. She described some of the conditions in the one-story, no-basement home caused by the sewer line back-up. “We had sewer mud all over the floors.”

But what all three speakers emphasized repeatedly as the sorest point was the attitudes displayed toward them by the borough during the emergency. Heather called it “belittling. She reported that the couple were told, even after the clog was found to be in the borough sewer line and not their lateral, that it was “our fault, caused by baby wipes. I have diapered five children… I would never flush baby wipes.” She added that she did not appreciate being called an idiot.

“And that was nice (by comparison),” Howard put in.

Major items of expense incurred so far, the Nance couple said, include equipment rental, trenching more than 100 feet, replacing their sewer lateral and water line, hooking up again and replacing as much dirt as possible in current conditions.

Damage to walks, driveways and doors and to landscaping cannot be fully known until later, but the couple said they would like their out-of-pocket costs reimbursed soon, with others to follow later if necessary.

Howard said he would stand with them in seeking reimbursement.

Council member Dave Fair suggested that the borough enter into discussions with the Lance couple to reach an equitable settlement. His motion to that effect was seconded and supported by Eric Button, but defeated by the Nay votes of Johnson, Judy Taylor, Sam Dynda, Lynne Farber  and Kate Kysor.

Johnson said the matter would need to be discussed with the borough solicitor. Earlier in the evening Krista Schott had been named solicitor, replacing Michael Alfieri.