Residents urge engineering review after repeated sewage backups in Menomonee Falls neighborhood

Residents from Cherokee Drive and the Arrowhead Range neighborhood pressed the Menomonee Falls Village Board on repeated sanitary-sewer backups and flooding, urging a formal engineering review and public reporting.

"Over the last six months, the sanitary sewer has backed up twice into finished and unfinished basements, causing extensive damage to our properties," Matt Faust said during public comment, asking what the village is doing to evaluate and mitigate the problem. Mara Manchuk, speaking for neighbors south of County Line Road, said the same streets experienced failures in August 2025 and April 2026 and described sewage in homes, mold risks and thousands of dollars in deductibles and mitigation costs.

The residents asked for a public infrastructure assessment that includes an engineering review, a hydrology or sewer-capacity study for 10-, 25- and 50-year storms, pump-discharge compliance checks and resources for lateral-pipe inspections. "We're finding that this is a pattern and not a one-off situation," Manchuk said, and requested a timeline for investigation and public reporting.

Village President Jeremy Walz had earlier invited the public to remain after the meeting for a committee-of-the-whole discussion on flooding, noting that the formal public comment period at the board meeting is the only time trustees will receive comments and that trustees do not respond or debate during public comment.

Another resident, Karen Johnson, used her public comment to flag water-billing issues tied to estimated meter readings. She said a meter installed on Aug. 15, 2025, had not been activated and that an estimated February 2, 2026, reading was 40% higher than the actual reading when the meter was activated on May 5; a separate sprinkling meter's estimated reading was reported as 2.5 times the later confirmed reading, which she said resulted in overbilling.

Trustees did not take a formal action on the flooding requests during the public-comment period; Walz closed public comment and the board moved on to Plan Commission business. Residents asked for a public timeline and committed to providing photos, dates and documentation to support their claims.