Committee approves revisions to lead service line replacement ordinance to secure grants, add flexibility for residents

The works committee approved revisions to the city’s lead service line (LSL) replacement ordinance intended to protect residents and keep the city on track to apply for state and federal funding.

Waterworks staff reported the ordinance had been referred back by the council for formatting and to incorporate comments. Agency staff said the ordinance must be approved by June to preserve grant application opportunities for planned 2027 projects.

Ryan led a detailed set of proposed edits focused on reducing barriers for homeowners and clarifying timelines. He said the ordinance’s current language placed too much coordination burden on residents who are not general contractors and that practical changes could achieve full replacement without penalizing compliant homeowners. “This ordinance assumes that residents can coordinate excavation, plumbing, restoration, scheduling, and financing, much like a general contractor,” Ryan said. “Most residents are not general contractors.”

Key changes the committee discussed and approved:

- Notice timeline clarification: make the 120-day notice the official planning period start and treat the 45-day notice as final construction confirmation so the 120 days is not shortened by the later notice.

- Coordination standard: replace a mandatory-coordination requirement with a documented good-faith-effort standard; documentation can include contractor contact, scheduling attempts, or funding application records to show compliance during coordination periods.

- Customer-side deadline flexibility: change the hard 90-day requirement so customer-side replacement occurs concurrently when feasible or within 180 days of utility-side replacement, with extensions allowed for reasonable cause such as contractor availability, funding timelines, weather, access limitations or documented hardship.

- Seasonal weather clause: where utility-side replacement occurs after Sept. 30 or frost/winter conditions make excavation impractical, the compliance deadline would automatically extend to May 31 of the following calendar year provided the property owner demonstrates good-faith efforts to schedule the work.

The chair asked whether deviating from the DNR recommendation on the 90-day deadline would create legal conflict. Agency staff said the DNR guidance is a recommendation rather than state statute; staff added the state may incorporate federal code into state law around 2027. “Right now, it’s federal code,” agency staff said, and DNR’s 90-day guidance is advisory.

Ryan also proposed language to protect residents who show documented good-faith efforts from penalties; utility staff supported the concept but cautioned that extensions should not be abused in ways that would prevent the city from meeting certification deadlines required by grant programs.

Ryan moved to approve the ordinance with the discussed provisions and asked staff to bring an updated draft to city council for final approval in two weeks; the motion was seconded and passed (recorded as 3-0). Agency staff noted they would be unavailable for the upcoming council meeting and asked that questions be submitted by email if necessary to ensure the ordinance can be presented for council consideration in time to preserve grant eligibility.

Next steps: staff will incorporate the discussed revisions into the ordinance text, circulate the revised draft to the committee and present it to city council for approval so the city can proceed with grant applications and 2026–2027 project planning.