Residents of Black Bottom in Loyall may soon find themselves facing fines of $500 per day if they do not honor the Kentucky Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) demand that they comply with the city's sewer ordinance stating that all residents must be hooked onto the sewer system.

The announcement of the EPA's demand for the residents to comply with the ordinance came during a March meeting, with equipment for construction of the project arriving just days there after.

Mayor Clarence Longworth said during that meeting there were approximately three residents not happy about the construction crossing their property in order to bury the sewer lines, it could be court ordered to allow the access.

Although, during the March meeting it was reported that 24 residents had not yet hooked up to the sewage line. Earlier this week at a meeting of the Loyall City Council it was stated that number is now standing at 14, with Longworth noting that they are in danger of being charged a $500 per day fine if they do not comply with the ordinance immediately.

Longworth announced Monday that the EPA has said “their time is up and they need to be hooked up.”

Longworth, along with the council, agreed to send out letters to the 14 residents immediately warning them of the possible fines, urging them to comply with the ordinance.

The residents will be given 60 days from the date they receive their letters to comply. The letters are expected to be mailed out the first part of next week.

In a recent interview, city treasurer Mandy Longworth said officials from the EPA were in the Loyall office last week checking the books and has made the decision that it is time that all non-complying residents be hooked up immediately with no exceptions.

“We even have some that are paying their monthly bill who still refuse to hook up on the sewer project,” said Mandy Longworth. “Our sewer plant personnel have even had to take a copy of the ordinance to one woman's home to show her that she must hook up on the sewer in order to become in compliance with the ordinance.”

Mandy Longworth also added by not hooking onto the sewer project the residents are not only in contempt of the city's ordinance, but the county's as well since the county maintains a similar sewer ordinance.

Mandy Longworth also said the residents will have until Dec. 1 to comply with the ordinance and after that date they will be cited to court upon which they will face the possibility of the $500 per day fine.

“We first notified them in March and they have had all this time to get hooked up and they still haven't,” said Mandy Longworth. “We have even agreed to waive the hook-on fees for the ones whose property lines will be crossed-what else can we do?”

Clarence Longworth noted in the March meeting that he had promised to do everything possible to get the city in compliance with state and federal policies and avoid the city being charged a huge fine.

“Right now we've got the state EPA on us, the federal EPA is on them,” said Clarence Longworth during that meeting. “I had to go to Frankfort on this on a judgment they had against us. They started out with a $10,000 fine and we got by with $2,000 and I made a point to them then that we'd do everything in our power to get people hooked up.

“This has been going on since 1994 and their patience has run out with us. Last fall we were given a clean bill of doctrine — we had not been in compliance since 2000 and probably before — that's why they were trying to force us to hook onto the original platform. Through the cooperation with a lot of efforts to get in compliance we are now in compliance.”

Names of residents listed on the books who have not hooked onto the sewer as of yet, which is available for public viewing, include Bridget Taylor, Barry Anderkon, Dewayne Williams, Wilma Cornett, Trina Cornett, Mary Irvin, Lon Speer, William Baker, Darlene Adams, Margaret Yeary, Kerry Partin, Summer Lively, Stanley Harris and Sue Ann Harris.