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. CITY OF July 10, 1998 Pa[�f Q 1/ Mr. Steve Weckman CITY OF ORONO JUL J n� 2750 Kelley Parkway �0 •W7 Orono,MN 55356 (Hand delivered): Dear Mr. Weckman: We received a letter from you and a letter from Lyle Oman on June 29, 1998. We telephoned you on June 30, 1998, requesting that you not send a copy to the builder as there were errors in your letter. We have not heard back from you as of today, so we thought we would write to you. First of all,your letter is dated April 16, 1998, rather than June 29, 1998. Secondly, S-P Testing's letter is not discussing"potential" problems,they are factual and current problems. Furthermore,we have additional letters from reputable testing companies and contractors that contest your measurements. We are requesting that you make an appointment to come out,remeasure,and resolve this situation. Additionally,your letter indicates that several issues need to be resolved. Your letter indicates that no vegetation has been established on the mound. This is not correct. We are requesting that you take another look. We have been mowing this system for months. Also,if you thought that it was necessary for us to install a water meter to determine the amount of water leaking into the septic tanks,why was this not suggested a long time ago when there sould have been troubleshooting done? As of the date of your letter,the tanks were not taking on ground water. On July 7th, Steve Schirmers from S-P Testing was out to our home to pick up his counter. At that time,he witnessed the pump tank,again,taking on ground water. We request that you also indicate in your revised letter the dates you were out here with Lyle Oman to witness the surface discharge, prior to the builder's contractor*plugging up the entire toe of the mound with a great deal of dirt from the swale cut around the tanks. Our witnesses indicate dates between 3-31-98 and 4-22-98 as dates they were here. This should help you in looking up the dates on your calendar. The mound was plugged up on 4-24-98. This was when the real problem(an insufficient absorption width made up of sand)was covered up. The plugging up of the mound also led to wet soil compaction. The bottom line to your statements and the other contractor's statements is that the system does not meet the required absorption width and that this is going to be a problem system for the future. We did not contract for a problem system. Moreover,a system that does not meet requirements. We believe that the City's continued position of"wait and see" (especially after major surface discharge was evident back in March and April,and proven deviations in building the system have been shown)that you are contributing to the voiding of our warranty as time goes on. We could not sell our home tomorrow with the existing circumstances. Therefore,we are requesting that the City"red tag"our system so that we can move the system. We have received letters from reputable testing companies that an attempted repair could lead to more problems in the future. They have also indicated that even if there was an attempted repair there would be no guarantee upon this system as it was not built properly in the first place,and more than likely has other problems. If you have any questions,please give us a call. Thank you. Sincerely, Nee' nd LoriArne *We have recently learned that the original septic contractor that built the mound should be the only one working on the mound. We question whether that has been the case. If it wasn't,this may have also voided our warranty from the original septic contractor.