Two pieces of legislation were introduced at the March 15 City Council meeting that could ultimately affect the pocketbooks of North Royalton residents. The first ordinance authorizes the Mayor to enter into an agreement with the Northeast Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) to settle litigation regarding the billing “C” district. The second ordinance would then authorize the Mayor to enter into a service agreement with NEORSD in order to include all of the city’s storm water districts within the NEORSD Regional Storm Water Management Program. Both ordinances were introduced by Mayor Bob Stefanik and Ward 4 Councilman Paul Marnecheck.
Prior to the Council meeting, Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, Deputy Director of Watershed Programs for NEORSD gave a presentation at the Council Finance Committee Meeting. All Council members, as well as other city officials, were present. Dreyfuss-Wells outlined the program, including the problems and issues that the program addresses and the revenue aspects of the program.
According to the Ohio Supreme Court, earlier this year, the NEORSD prevailed in an effort to charge additional fees to subsidize a storm water program throughout their district. The District is responsible for wastewater treatment in the city of Cleveland and all or portions of 613 municipalities in that are located in Cuyahoga, Summit, Lake and Lorain counties. In about 1,800 customers in the northeast portion of North Royalton, known as “C” district, have their wastewater treated by NEORSD, which flow through city-owned sewer lines. Although their wastewater is treated by NEORSD, they pay their sewer bills to North Royalton, who then, in turn pays NEORSD.
In late November, the Ohio Supreme Court denied a motion for reconsideration of a September 15 ruling, which reversed a decision of the 2013 ruling of the appeal court, which said that the NEORSD did not have the right to charge fees that would subsidize a storm water program. The Supreme Court ruled that storm water could be included in the definition of waste water, so they did have the authority to do so. The NEORSD had initiated the plan five years ago in order to fund projects that would help mitigate flooding issues.
Initially, North Royalton was involved with the cities of Beachwood, Bedford Heights, Brecksville, Cleveland Heights, Glenwillow, Independence, Lyndhurst, Oakwood, Olmsted Falls and Strongsville in fighting the NEORSD on their plan to take over stormwater management and bill customers. The implementation of the Stormwater Management Program was proposed to manage water quality, flooding and erosion problems. The cost of this management was dependent upon the impervious surfaces of each customer, which, at that time, cost a homeowner between three and nine dollars per month. At that time, the city paid the cost of the “C” district residents, which amounted to $90,922, according to North Royalton Finance Director, Eric Dean. The program was then suspended while the matter made its way through the courts.
In 2013, North Royalton officials decided to formulate their own plan. City Council approved an agreement with the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) that would save the city in storm water costs in the future. The agreement took place, because circumstances in North Royalton are unique, due to the fact that it owns its own wastewater treatment plants, coupled with the aggressive attack on the storm water issues that have plagued the city. “We submitted our evidence showing the efforts we’ve made to control and improve our storm water problems,” noted North Royalton Law Director, Tom Kelly. Because the city has been proactive in their storm water work over the past five years, the NEORSD was to not only give a credit for the work done already, but will also reimburse the city for future work that will be done in “C” district, as well as contribute up to $700,000 for the retention basin project in Cedar Estates. Although Cedar Estates is not located in “C” District, it flows through Baldwin Creek, which is located in the NEORSD area. “The city will not only benefit on an ongoing basis, but the District will rebate to the city, 25% of all fees the city pays them under the agreement,” said Kelly. “Funds will help defray ongoing costs of our storm water crew, which is a permanent crew under the Service Department.”
Stefanik, who is a member of the NEORSD Board of Trustees, said that the new NEORSD storm water program is expected to start once again in July. Questions regarding who will be the billing agent for the storm water fee and if North Royalton in its entirety should be included in the new program remain to be discussed by City Council. Stefanik did note that he would like all of North Royalton to be included. “It’s a regional program. We want to be a part of that.” He indicated that a public meeting will be held for North Royalton residents, once all the details for the new program are hammered out.
If the two measures are adopted by Council, then all property owners of North Royalton will pay the fees, once the program starts up. The fees, which will be collected by NEORSD, will be billed to customers on a quarterly basis.

By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer