Clinton Township asks Oakland County to do more about sewage water

CLINTON TOWNSHIP — The Clinton Township Board of Trustees unanimously passed a resolution critiquing Oakland County for dumping partially treated sewage into the Clinton River.

The resolution suggests that funds used for other county projects should be diverted to address the problem. It also encourages action at the state and county levels to restrict grant appropriations for Oakland County as it relates to sewage management.

Though, admittedly, the resolution is more of a request than anything binding, Trustee Dan Kress, who brought the motion forward, said the resolution is the culmination of frustration with the neighboring county.

“This has no teeth to it. There’s nothing we can do to stop them from dumping in Oakland County,” Kress said. “But this shows our residents and our taxpayers that we are encouraging other elected officials to make an effort to resolve this during this short window, where there may be an opportunity to make some revisions or conditions on monies received.”

This is not the first time the county has passed a resolution like this. In 2022, a similar resolution was approved by the board.

The resolution says the neighboring county discharges the “lightly treated” sewage through the Red Run Drain, which is a tributary to the Clinton River. This happens when combined sewage overflows following heavy rain runoff into relief points. The township alleges that between Jan. 11-12 alone, 700,000,000 gallons of the combined sewage overflow water made it into the river.

“Oakland County has a permit to dump in the Clinton River and ultimately the lake (Lake St. Clair), which closes Metro Beach, and you end up with the sludge in the river and the lake south of the Clinton River,” Kress said.

The resolution points out that Clinton Township spent $30 million to expand its sanitary sewer system to prevent overflows into the Clinton River. Clinton Township Supervisor Bob Cannon spoke to this and said the township will address any issues relating to water quality.

“We had probably one of the most serious problems in the state of Michigan,” Cannon said. “We have not even come close to that again. Oakland County is doing a very poor job, and I think what this brings forward is (Macomb County Public Works Commissioner) Candice Miller and others are addressing it. We should encourage that.”

Trisha Bruzek, the marketing and communications supervisor for Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash’s office, said the office had “no comment” about the resolution at this time.

Trustee Julie Matuzak said she feels “outrage” over the dumping.

“The underlying problem of all of this is that state government and the federal regulators don’t set standards high enough,” Matuzak said.

Trustee Mike Keys said he has the same frustrations but said Oakland County is working to address issues that are also a problem in Macomb County.

“As a region, if we work together to ask for money from the state and the federal government and for changes versus continuing to punch our neighbor in the eye at the expense of a press release and a resolution, I think we would get more done,” Keys said.

Keys asked Department of Public Services Director Mary Bednar at the meeting if Oakland County had been contacted about the resolution. Bednar said township officials attend meetings concerning the Red Run Drain and are in communication with Oakland County.

“The thing is we want to do more,” Bednar said.

Cannon agreed that the township should work together with the neighboring county, but said they needed to put more money toward fixing the problem.

Township Treasurer Paul Gieleghem said there was a double standard at work. He said that Oakland County communities are not required to update their sewer system even though Mount Clemens and Fraser have been required to.

“The DEQ should be requiring that these communities take that same action and that the standards are applied across the board, rather than selectively,” Gieleghem said.

Township Clerk Kim Meltzer implied that one political party, when in power, was not doing enough to address these problems. Meltzer is a Republican. She said that the difference in the standards the township is held to compared to communities in Oakland County makes her wonder about the situation.

“We’re talking about agencies and putting it all on them,” Meltzer said. “There are legislators there who have to do some of that heavy lifting for us to be able to address this issue.”

Cannon tried to dissuade Meltzer from making it a partisan issue.

“I have hope because when I took this position we were in a mess,” Cannon said. “Mrs. Bednar, and (Township Attorney) Jack Dolan helped, got us out of this mess and this board got us out of the mess. We paid for this. Nobody once on this board complained about all the money we had to spend. Nobody once. I haven’t seen that in other communities.”

Resident Fred Nienstedt, during public comment, thanked the township and Miller for her efforts to combat sewage making it into the river.