Towns may have avoided suing each other

A brewing lawsuit between two towns has likely been averted after leaders took legal arguments seriously last week and a desire to work with neighbors prevailed.

Coulee Dam has decided to explore options and get cost estimates to build a lift station needed to carry Elmer City's sewage to the new wastewater treatment facility being built.

The treatment plant that Coulee Dam is building is about 22 feet higher in elevation than the old one that the towns currently share. That requires extra pumping with a new lift station to get Elmer City's sewage to the new plant.

Coulee Dam wanted Elmer City to pay for it. Elmer City asserted that would violate a 50-year contract between the towns that was signed in 1975.

Coulee Dam was going to start using their new plant anyway, despite the possibility that sewage could have backed up into the area of Elmer City.

Mayors and councilmembers of the two towns had met on different occasions to resolve the issue, and Elmer City's lawyer, John Drake, sent the town of Coulee Dam a letter outlining Elmer City's argument.

"In demanding that Elmer City install the new pumps at its own expense, Coulee Dam has breached the Agreement," the letter states. "The terms of the Agreement call for Elmer City to pump its sewage to the existing plant -i.e., the plant that the parties agreed to build and jointly operate when they executed the Agreement. ... Elmer City designed its lift station to be compatible with that plant, in reliance on its contractual right to have its sewage processed there. ... The Agreement does not allow Coulee Dam to unilaterally build a new plant and demand 'accommodations' at Elmer City's expense."

Another letter from Amelia Marchand, of the Colville Tribes Environmental Trust program, states that "a release of untreated sewage from municipal wastewater treatment facilities poses a potential hazard to human health, wildlife, and the environment." This letter was sent to Elmer City, as well as to the city of Coulee Dam, and explains that since Coulee Dam operates the plant, if they caused sewage to leak into the environment, it would be their responsibility.

At Elmer City's town council meeting Oct. 11, Mayor Jesse Tillman said that he had received a call from Drake, Elmer City's lawyer, saying that Coulee Dam's council had voted to put a lift station in at their plant.

Coulee Dam Mayor Larry Price clarified on Tuesday that the council voted to explore options and get cost estimates for installing a lift station at the site of the new facility, but hasn't officially voted to pay for it.

"I would say odds are it probably will happen," Price said in a phone call.

Elmer City was under the impression at their council meeting that the final decision had already been made, and spoke accordingly.

"I'm grateful to Coulee Dam for sitting down with us and picking a solution that I really think is best for both towns in the present time and for the future," Mayor Tillman said. "It was a boost to our relations with them and just a better overall alternative to what was discussed. We're (grateful) that they had open ears and open hearts to that."

He thanked those at the city who put in time doing research and gathering information towards resolving the issue, including Elmer City's Public Works Director Jimmer Tillman, who said he had many "sleepless nights."

"Finally, I think they saw our side of it and what they have to lose," Jimmer Tillman said. "We have to thank Coulee Dam for doing the right thing and taking responsibility for their poor planning. It's unfortunate we were pushed to hire a lawyer to get clarification."

"There's still logistical things between us and Coulee Dam to work out," Mayor Tillman said. "They'll probably be in communication with [Jimmer Tillman], to make sure there's no interruption of flow, but other than that, this issue with Coulee Dam seems to be resolved. So, very good news."

The additional work would likely set the turn-on date for the new plant back about three months, Mayor Tillman said, to spring of 2019.

Elmer City will continue to pay for their flow rate.