2016-12-15-minutes-mountain-river-trails-appeal-to-kittitas-county-board-of-health

Home Browse Search

Board of Health Appeal Minutes December 15, 2016 4of6 Jewell asked Mr. Carmody that since a lot of the work has been done and most of the issues are moot at this time, Mr. Carmody is asking for some sort of relief for the MRTCA board association. Mr. Carmody stated that he would like clarification that the role of MRTCA is one of cooperation support. The association does not have any legal right to go onto the individual lots and remove it unless they go to court and find some legal basis, which he is struggling to find and get a court order. Paul Jewell asked if the campground was one parcel or individual parcels. Mr. Carmody replied it is a campground on one large parcel the association owns with exclusive rights to possession through a membership. Commissioner Jewell clarified that the association maintains the ownership of the underlying property. Commissioner Jewell clarified that the association has sold exclusive rights to a certain parcel in the campground. Commissioner Jewell noted that the county would recognize it as one tax parcel. There was a discussion for clarification about MRTCA rules/rights vs. someone leasing a place. Mr. Carmody noted that the Securities Division drives the rights and responsibilities at the time of approval and he has yet to see those documents. Commissioner Jewell asked Mr. Carmody in his opinion if the association is not responsible, are the individual unit owners themselves responsible. Mr. Carmody responded that he does believe that the individual lot owners are responsible. There was discussion about the association working with the county to notify all the owners. Rich Elliott asked about a statement he made about some of the issues have been ongoing and asked if the association would concede that they were aware that discharge was being dumped into buckets buried in the ground under their RV's, and not hooked up to the septic system over a period of 40-50 years. Mr. Carmody noted that there is no connection to the septic systems, but use of a blue boy that you dump into. Mr. Elliott noted that the association knew about this and Mr. Carmody noted yes, but so did the county. Mr. Carmody noted that this was looked at. Commissioner Jewell asked Mr. Carmody if there was any record showing the county looked and approved without doing anything about it. Mr. Carmody stated that there is mostly anecdotal stuff as the county doesn't have record of this to his knowledge. There is some reference about 2-3 years ago; Lindsey Ozbolt was out looking at some things before she left. From what he has been told most of these things were put in place about 20 years ago and operating. He described the system, a hose that comes out that drops into a bucket with holes that filters stuff out. Commissioner Jewell asked if Mr. Carmody was aware that there was black water, not just grey water on the ground. Mr. Carmody stated that he was not aware of black water. Commissioner Jewell noted that when he looked through the notes, there were several references to black water, not just grey water, being dumped in the same fashion. Laura Osiadacz asked how many septic systems MRTCA has, and Mr. Carmody replied with three owned by the association. Commissioner Jewell asked if the association imposed an annual assessment to owners. Mr. Carmody stated yes and that takes care of the common area charges and responsibilities, repairs to roads, and water system. Commissioner Jewell asked who is responsible for enforcing the rules in the camp ground. Mr. Carmody replied that the association is responsible for enforcing the rules. There was continued discussion about who is responsible for what within the association, what happens if someone doesn't pay their annual assessment, and the process for which the association would dissolve. The second request about the burden of reporting that the county is requesting, Mr. Carmody, your position is that it is not allowed under the WAC. Mr. Carmody stated that it is not required under the WAC. It states you will maintain contracts for periodic maintenance of the system. So they have an obligation to do that, it's just the reporting piece. There was discussion about the January 31St, date and not sure if board can meet that deadline due to winter. Mr. Carmody is also not aware if they have a current contract or they just contact someone once a year to provide maintenance on the system. This amendment information was received on Tuesday afternoon. Commissioner Jewell noted that Mr. Carmody was questioning the assessment and alleged it was not consistent with county code. Mr. Carmody stated that there was no legal basis for this.