County forced to delay judgement on unauthorized outhouses

The county has still not been able to solve a wastewater issue several months after first contacting the landowner who is said to have installed outhouses without planning permission.

A hearing was scheduled during the regular monthly meeting last week for Abe Yoder to discuss the situation. However, he was not in attendance.

On the basis that the commission had reason to believe a request for an extension was at that time in the mail, it was agreed that the conversation would be delayed until February.

Unauthorized Outhouses

After working on the issue for several months, Caleb Peters, Wastewater Specialist with the county’s Planning department, brought it to the commission’s attention in October.

During a site visit on September 11, 2024, he said, he and Planning Director Tim Lyons had discovered the situation there is “much worse than we thought”. They found several instances of problematic greywater and blackwater drainage.

For example, at one residence, Peters wrote that he found a chicken with its head inside blackwater drainage, along with an odor of rotting. At another residence, Peters wrote that an abandoned outhouse was discovered with a hole dug underneath that animals were getting into.

“Because they did not correctly build or abandon this outhouse, cross-contamination can occur if a pet gets into it, then a kid pets them, then eats without washing their hands,” he wrote.

At that time, Peters reported that the landowner, “Told Crook County Planning staff that he would not fill out an application and was willing to break the health and safety regulations”.

In situations of this nature, according to County Attorney Joe Baron, the county clerk can issue an order to appear in front of the commissioners for a hearing. If the parties do not appear, the county attorney can issue an order to compel, which could lead to court action if noncompliance continues.

Approving a Delay

A hearing was scheduled for January 7. After attempting to make contact through letters and phone calls, Peters reported that he did finally receive a call from Yoder.

Yoder indicated that he would be requesting an extension by mail, and that the letter had been sent recently enough that it was not surprising for the county to not yet have received it.

“The mail runs in mysterious ways any more,” quipped Commissioner Fred Devish.

Lyons commented that, because the county has knowledge of the request, and because doing so would be “showing good faith”, the commission would be within its right to continue to hearing.

Notice will be mailed to Yoder that the rescheduled hearing is on February 4 at 1:30 p.m.

Hopefully, the commission agreed, the issue can then be in place. Winter is a bad time to be fixing something like this, said Devish, “But to have a plan in place is not impossible at all.”