After more than 20 years of dispute, the city of Seymour will take ownership and responsibility of a sewer main serving residents of the Greendale subdivision southeast of the city.

The city’s board of public works and safety voted unanimously last week to accept the sewer from the Greendale Homeowners Association as part of a settlement agreement between the two parties.

The city will not be responsible for the lateral sewer lines, however, that run from the main line to each home.

As part of the agreement, each Greendale resident will pay the city $2,000, said city attorney Rodney Farrow.

"The city has agreed to let them make payments monthly over 36 months if that’s what they need to do or they can pay a lump sum," Farrow said.

The city’s insurance carrier will have to pay the homeowners’ attorney fees up to $15,000, Farrow added.

Another term of the agreement is the city will waive any sewer tap on fees of $250 for Greendale residents.

The lawsuit over who is responsible for the sewer main has now been dismissed. The issue has been one of contention since 1996, said attorney Ann Coriden, who represented Greendale residents in the three-year litigation.

Farrow said the city has been processing sewage from the Greendale subdivision for 23 years. 

"They paid the city to do that, but the sewer line needs repaired, and the reluctance on the part of the city has always been if they would bring it up to the city standards, then we would take it over, but they’ve never been able to do that," he said.

Over the years, there were several efforts to resolve the issue by prior attorneys, but a formal resolution was never reached, Coriden said.

In June 2016, the Greendale Homeowners Association filed suit in Jackson Superior Court I. The issue was mediated July 16, 2019, in Bloomington. Farrow and Randy Hamilton, director of Seymour Water Pollution Control, attended the mediation.

"This has been a long and emotionally difficult process for the homeowners in the Greendale subdivision," Coriden said. "The homeowners association and individual homeowners are pleased with the result and to put this matter behind them."

The issue of the ownership of the sewer was a complex one, Coriden added.

"This is a big reason why the parties struggled to reach an agreement before now," she said. "We believe the correct outcome has now finally been reached."