EARTH TECH GETS FLUSHED

Today the Local Area Watch gets to report a success story.  Grattan Township resident Ed Hawks and a group of his neighbors, after a long battle, finally got the State of Michigan to hold Earth Tech Inc. responsible for the spilling of sewage into Big Crooked and Murray Lakes.

A couple of years ago Hawks and his neighbors discovered sewage in those lakes.  Upon investigation they learned that it was the result of electrical failures at two of Grattan Township's sewer lift stations.  The township had recently replaced the management of its sewer system by Kent County with the private contractor Earth Tech.  When the concerned township residents initially tried to get to the bottom of this failure, they encountered resistance from both Earth Tech and the township officials.

Earth Tech was uncooperative because it was their electrician who had done faulty electrical work at the lift stations without plans, permits, or inspections.  That screw-up caused the sewage spills into Big Crooked and Murray Lakes, and Earth Tech did not want to own up to it.  Township officials dragged their feet at first, because they were the ones who had decided to replace the county with Earth Tech.  They were reluctant to admit that they might have made a mistake.

However, a subsequent sewage spill resulting from another electrical failure at a lift station began to break this official resistance to taking effective action.  Hawks and his neighbors managed to get the State of Michigan to take interest in what was happening, and township officials became responsive.  Starting in the summer of 2005, the state's Office of Local Government & Consumer Services headed up a series of conferences to collect the facts of what happened and get Earth Tech's explanation for the failures of the lift stations.  At the end of the process, the state concluded that Earth Tech's faulty and undocumented electrical work on the lift station was the cause of the sewage spills.

Therefore, on October 6, 2006, the Michigan Bureau of Construction Codes & Fire Safety ordered Earth Tech to reimburse Grattan Township $45,691.47 for faulty electrical work, pay the township another $5,000 for code enforcement costs, and pay a civil fine of $10,000 to the State of Michigan.  [Editor's note: The $45,691.47 figure was originally reported as $5,691.47.  See the comment section for additional information.]  Furthermore, the Earth Tech employee responsible for the faulty electrical work had to surrender his electrical contractor license.  Failure to comply with this order by December 5, 2006, will result in revocation of Earth Tech's electrical contractor license.

Congratulations to these concerned citizens of Grattan Township who made a difference.

Meanwhile, residents and taxpayers of Grand Rapids, remember who Big Sister, a.k.a. Mayor George Heartwell, is paying $150,000+ a year to keep his pal Corky Overmeyer on the payroll to manage the city's "environmental sustainability".  That's right, those sewage spillers Earth Tech!

Comments

[ed hawks]

Couple of clarifications. Earth Tech actually had to reimburse Grattan Township in excess of $45,000 dollars, not the $5,691 you cite. The electrical problems were really just the tip of the iceberg and the only thing we were able to make stick. This was a $500,000 project and most of the faulty work was mechanical. Unfortunately, the DEQ did not see it that way due to the smoke screen put up by Grattan and Earthtech and now the sewer customers are left holding the bag to fix the lift stations again at additional expense. Our public servants that we entrusted with our $1000 special assessment have blown the large majority of it in large part due to first to their ignorance and then secondly to their arrogance. I approached the township supervisor and sewer advisory committee one year prior to the beginning of construction and warned them that this project was destined to fail and explained why. What I was met with totally caught me off guard as I did not realize that there was a difference between a public servant and a politician. If you ever see a problem never bring it to a politician because then you will become the problem. This is what happened to me. Hat's off to the Politicians in Grattan, Honorable mention goes to Rich Herweyer, Harold Bailey and especially Brutus: aka Alan Rumbaugh.

[The Executive Director]

Thanks for the corrections and additional info, Ed. Your $45K+ figure explains the $40,000 civil settlement of March 6, 2006, mentioned in the state's order. No question that you folks in Grattan got a raw deal, but if you hadn't pressed the issue, it would've been worse. Thumb's up from us.

Regards, Bill

[R S Chapman]

ED does deserve a BIG thanks from us Grattan residents. Township officials and the sewer board made it a battle for him. They still aren't "fessing up" to everything and i believe there is more to come after the GR Press article stating another million dollars is needed.

[The Executive Director]

Hello, R.S. Chapman.

You're right. Problems remain. But as you say, Ed Hawks deserves our thanks, because progress has made been made.

Regards,
Bill Tingley
Executive Director

[Jim DenHollander]

I never did think handing over 1000 dollars for politicians to take care of was a good idea. As I recall, no one had a choice. But then, it's a free country. We freely and most times are forced to give money away and the politicians freely stick it to us. It seems big brother generally is not working in the best interest of us or the country. But we can vote. Either for a rock, or a hard spot.

[ed hawks]

Someone called my home with questions about the sewer while we were away for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Unfortunately that voice mail got deleted so If you were trying to contact me please try again.

Thanks,
Ed