Sewer issues come up at summer meetings of Strum Village Board

STRUM - Issues dealing with Strum's sewer system came up in the summer meetings of the Strum Village Board held at the Civic Center.

At the June 8 meeting, the Board unanimously denied a request by citizen Mike Rehberg for the Village to pay the invoice for the repairs made to his side of the sewer line. Rehberg presented the board a problem which arose on his property along with his sewer repair invoice asking that the Village pay for the repairs. Mike also presented the board with a packet of instances where a municipality did cover costs of a resident’s invoice. Board members discussed when ownership of the sewer line takes over as the property owners responsibility beginning at the curb stop as it does for the water line. The issue happened to be on the property owners’ side as the pictures in the board meeting packet had showed.

A Sewer Ownership Ordinance was brought to the board. This will be taken up by a committee to go through.

Rehberg's request came up during the public comment portion of meeting. In same public comment time, citizen Marsha Girtman appeared before the board asking what is being done to prevent the back up that occurs in the sewer line on Woodland, specifically in her basement more so during the summer months. She stated that when her toilet in the basement begins to bubble, she knows that its indicating a probable back-up occurring then calls Brad. The line is then flushed and cleaned out. She asked if there was a plan in place to flush and clean the line more frequently. Girtman’s sewer issues were discussed by the Board and it was decided a committee meeting will be set to decide how to proceed.

The Board discussed working temp. deduct meters that residents can ‘check out’ for pool fills, lawn or garden watering, etc. The Village runs into the issue of not being able to keep them on hand for everyone because they are being taken for long periods of time and/or are brought back broken. A core fee of $50 and duration of 30 days was discussed and approved by the Board.

Also at the June 8 meeting, the Board approved E-S Sanitation and Waste Management Hauler’s permits for 2026-2027. All annual operator's, beer, liquor and cigarette licenses in the village at local establishments were also approved by the Board along with the annual CMAR report, fireworks permit, new ordinance for Open Burning in the village, the purchase of a new mower for the village, the sale of the old ATV by the Strum Police Department, the deck permit as submitted for Darla Rosman, 524 5th Ave., the deck permit as submitted for Ryan and Tess Cateria, 145 W Walnut St. and the building permit as submitted for Josh Stendahl, 361 Butternut Dr.

At the July 13 meeting, two building permits were denied by the Board. Rory Rindahl, 415 E Pine St, submitted a non-conforming fence permit but this was denied by the Boarrd. Rindahl was asked to re-submit a new permit in August that follows the Village's current ordinances. Misty Gerber, 120 4th Ave S, submitted a permit to add a car port to the front side of the current standing garage. This was denied as it does not follow our current ordinances.

The Board also approved a motion to write off remaining deliquent personal property taxes from past years, approve the Tri- City's Hauler's permit for 2026-2027 and approved three submitted operator's licenses,

A special meeting of the Board took place on June 1. The contract for Oium Blacktop grating and paving Robbe Ct was approved by the Board unanimously.