MARION, Texas – Not being able to shower, wash clothes, dishes or drink tap water in peace has a Marion woman hoping the city will step in.
Helen Guenther told KSAT she’s lived in her Marion home on Huebinger Street for about 30 years. However, she said the last five months in her home have been frustrating.
She held up a large metal bin on her front porch that she now must wash her dishes in.
Earlier this year, Guenther’s sewer was capped off by a private contractor because her sewage no longer properly runs off into the ground.
Now, her sewage backs up, which prevents her the ability to safely use water in her home.
“Then, when you run water, that comes up, and it’s the most horrifying smell,” Guenther said. “It just — it makes you sick to your stomach.”
Guenther’s above-ground sewer line connected two homes to one line, which is currently illegal in Marion. However, it was allowed when the lines were tied together more than 30 years ago.
Acting Mayor Abigaile Maberry told KSAT that it was fine to stay the way it was because of a governmental code.
“It talks about non-conforming usage,” Maberry said. “So, if something is non-conforming usage, it’s been there since before this regulation came into place, then it should continue to be being able to be used that way.”
However, the house that Guenther’s sewer was connected to was sold. The home eventually had work contracted out and the contractor KSAT spoke with, Tri Citi Construction, said they capped the line because of sewage coming up into the now-private property’s land.
The person KSAT spoke to said that because the line was being tied together illegally, there was a serious sewage leak. Additionally, the company capped the leak because they were not able to get ahold of Guenther.
Guenther, however, said she never spoke with the contractor, but the contractor said they were never able to reach her.
During communication with the city, Maberry informed KSAT that the contractor should not have been doing any work in Marion.
“That contractor was actually not permitted to be working in the City of Marion,” Maberry said.
Since then, a “stop-work” order has been placed on the home previously connected to Guenther’s sewer. However, the home is on private property, so the city cannot uncap the sewer.
The city also could not reconnect the lines together since it is currently not a legal practice. It was only allowed if no modifications were made to the sewer line after the rule was passed that disallowed the connecting of lines.
The city said it’s trying to fix the situation for Guenther. Considering she is on a fixed income, Maberry said it’s possible the city could pay the cost upfront to place a new line as the city has done for developers in the past.
“We were just about there with being able to try to schedule somebody to come out so that the city could absorb that cost and then just pass it back on to her in small increments as an added bill,” Maberry said. “We were going to figure out how to do that and have a contract drawn up with her when, unfortunately, all of this began to occur in the city.”
Maberry is referring to the former city mayor and former city secretary resigning in the same week while being the only two people listed on the city’s bank accounts.
Former Mayor Daniel Loyola and former City Secretary Suzanne Gonzales are the only two people on the city’s Marion State Bank accounts, making it impossible for the city to write checks to a contractor.
“Now everything is at a standstill,” Maberry said. “The contractor we spoke to, and that has done work for us before, is, like, two and a half weeks [behind].”
“I love this little community because it’s small,” Guenther said. “But to go through this because some new people come in and want to buy, that’s not right.”
Maberry told KSAT she wasn’t initially looped into the sewer issue until after the stop-work order was issued.
“I didn’t find out until well after (the) council wasn’t meeting anymore,” Maberry said. “So, my angle that I was trying to assist under was we still have the purview to make things happen for public health and safety.”
Maberry also told KSAT that the “public works staff did all they were able to handle legally” and that she is “disappointed that council wasn’t made aware by leadership.”
For now, no work can be done on the private property where Guenther’s sewer was capped.
The city is working to reroute her sewer line to another location. However, the work cannot be done until the city figures out its banking issues.