RAPID CITY - Eighteen homeowners may finally get some peace of mind if the city council follows through Monday and upholds a decision to replace a failing 80-year-old sewer line in the alley between Franklin and St. Cloud streets near Mount Rushmore Road.

The council will decide during Monday's regular meeting whether to declare an emergency and award a contract to Mainline Contracting for $183,244 to replace the sewer line in the alley from Seventh Street to Mount Rushmore Road.

Last month, the council decided on a 6-4 vote to pay 90 percent of the cost to replace the sewer line, despite uncertainty about whether it was built as a public or private line.

Sketchy city records - basically, a note on a map - indicated the line was built in 1928 as a privately owned and maintained line. But residents told the city no one ever told them the line was anything other than city owned.

Several neighborhood residents have urged the council to fix the sewer line immediately and debate future policy issues later.

Scott Wrigglesworth, who owns a home at the corner of Seventh and Franklin, said during a phone interview Thursday he and his neighbors still believe it is a public sewer line and that the city should be 100 percent responsible for it, but they are willing to pay 10 percent of the cost.

"This was a great compromise," he said. "We realized we weren't going to get the support for all of it, so the 90-10 split is a great compromise. We're in favor of this 100 percent. People have been having problems for quite awhile."

Wrigglesworth and other homeowners hope the council follows through. If approved, he isn't sure how soon work would begin, but he assumes it should start as soon as possible.

"The sooner, the better," he said.

The city is still working on an updated policy concerning reimbursements to homeowners whose private lines within the city fail. Currently, the city pays 40 percent of the replacement cost, but some officials think the city should take more responsibility because a portion of the sewer rates that all city customers pay are devoted to maintenance and replacement.

The new policy would increase the city's share of replacement costs based on the age of the line. For example, the city might pay 50 percent of the cost to replace a failed 40-year-old line, 60 percent of a 50-year-old line, and so on, up to 100 percent of a 90-year-old line.

It would apply to failed or failing sewer lines built before 1970 that serve at least 10 rate-paying customers. The council would keep the discretion to set the percentage.

Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415 or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com