NORTH JAY – Clover Johnson-York sat outside her home and business Thursday morning on Maxwell Road. Her 4-year-old son, Stephon, was playing nearby.

York looked at a high spot on the side yard covered with some grass.

It has taken three years for the grass to grow where a septic system was installed to replace a failing one. Her daughter Tina’s birthday roses, dug up in the process, were never replaced.

York and her eight children, seven of them minors and the oldest 18, are embroiled in a lawsuit regarding a septic system on their property located directly above an 8-inch fresh water supply main that provides drinking water to North Jay.

York moved from Lewiston to Jay in 1996. She was told the septic system was failing and would have to be replaced. The state had grants available for those meeting eligibility requirements. She was eligible and received a grant to replace the failing system. York was responsible for $650 of the cost, with the state picking up the remaining 90 percent.

York’s property is bordered by a stream, limiting her options for installing a new system. She fears she and her family will lose their home. She filed a countersuit against the North Jay Water District. The district is seeking an injunction that would require her to stop using her septic system.

“I didn’t have a choice,” York said. “I don’t feel I’m responsible.”

One of the prerequisites for the replacement system was a variance that required the municipal water line to be reset. Bid requests were placed in newspapers by the town, which administers grant money from the state. A contractor was hired and the system replaced. However, the water lines were not reset. York says the system was installed using information provided by the North Jay Water District. Richard Jackson, a representative of the district, was not available for comment Wednesday or Thursday.

The district’s complaint states that York did not have the water line reset and has ignored demands to fix it.

She disagrees. The contractor came back to reset the lines, but it was discovered the water main ran under the system.

She says the installation of the septic system was subject to resetting the water line, not the water main. She also says the Water District didn’t know where the water main ran and gave out inaccurate information prior to reinstalling the septic system.

According to the District’s suit, the recorded deed to the property, including the deed to York, clearly identifies the easement and the the water main. The suit contends York should have known it existed.

York also says Jackson didn’t contact the state Department of Human Services Drinking Water Program until April even though it was in violation of federal and state laws.

“I’d like to resolve it,” York said.


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