CENTRE – A local bill passed into law by the Alabama Legislature in September 2001 directed the Cherokee County Commission and the Health Department work together to require private property owners to connect their “resort area” properties “to available public sanitary sewerage systems, whether publicly or privately owned.”

Almost nine years later the law still is not being followed consistently, if at all, and there is little consensus over who is ultimately responsible for enforcing a public health measure that the author of the bill hoped would help ensure the long-term viability of the county's number-one tourist attraction.

State Rep. Richard Lindsey, D-Centre, told The Post that he wrote the bill at the specific request of the county government and local Health Department.

“In the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was extensive debate and support for doing everything possible in Cherokee County to clean up Weiss Lake,” Lindsey said Friday. “The result of those discussions was the passing of legislation giving the County Commission and the Health Department the tools they were asking for to eliminate the illegal dumping of raw sewage into Weiss Lake.”

Specifically, the law directs the County Commission, “through the county health department” to “compel connection of existing privies, water closets and septic tanks in resort areas which are not designed or operated in full compliance with all state and county regulations.”

The law allows the Health Department to make the connections without consent of the property owner, then reimburse itself for the cost of the operation by placing a lien on the property.

After the connection is made, according to the law, the Health Department must send an invoice of the charges, along with a statement signed by the probate judge – in his capacity as presiding officer of the County Commission – to the land owner.

The law also lays out a public hearing process to determine the validity of any citation issued by the county, and gives the Circuit Court of Cherokee County additional enforcement authority.

Penalties for non-compliance with the law include fines of $50 per day, with a $3,000 maximum.

Probate Judge Melvyn Salter said he is eager to enforce the law, but insisted he lacks the authority he needs.

“The only way I can sign off on an invoice is by the approval of the County Commission,” Salter said. “In order for this law to be carried out, the Commission must have the willingness to enforce it to the fullest extent.”

Salter said he and the commissioners are also unclear about what role the corporation that owns the easements around the lake where many of the sewage problems emanate should ultimately be asked to play in the clean-up effort.

Salter said he has asked Alabama Attorney General Troy King to help with that determination.

“I have sought an attorney general's opinion,” Salter said. “The issue is that many of the campgrounds and recreational lots, which house over 12,000 travel trailers and campers, are in Alabama Power's flood easement. How can the Health Department and the County Commission enforce a law on property owners who are not supposed to have permanent structures in that easement?”

Salter said that is the question he wrote to King seeking an answer for.

“When I receive his opinion, it will give direction as to how to proceed with the enforcement of the law,” Salter said.

Weiss Lake was built by Alabama Power in the late 1950s for hydroelectric power generation. Regulations regarding structures in the flood easement were written, but went largely unenforced for over 40 years.

Finally, in June 2006, Alabama Power opened a shoreline management office in Centre in an effort to deal with the ever-growing problem.

Several years ago, the Health Department tried to slow the spread of untreated sewage in Weiss Lake by permitting the installation of what are known as "decentralized" sewage systems, which are stand-alone holding tanks and drainage pipes that treat wastewater before allowing it to slowly trickle back in the ground.

According to Jim Hollins, area director of the Alabama Department of Public Health with oversight over Cherokee County, there are currently six such systems operating around Weiss Lake.

In at least one location, however, the Health Department has failed to monitor the system properly.

In March, a front-page story in The Post detailed the problems with one privately-owned system near the Alabama Belle resort that went unaddressed by the Health Department for at least two years, according to homeowners in the area who said they drove by ditches filled with raw sewage whenever the holding tanks overflowed.

County officials are also aware of problems with another system in Sand Valley.

Tom DiFiore said he tried for two years to get the Health Department to clean up the mess at the end of his driveway near the Alabama Belle.

“I called the Health Department, I don't know how many times,” DiFiore said.

In March, Hollins said he could not explain why DiFiore's complaints took so long to find an audience with the agency specifically created to handle public health concerns.