County Commissioners repeal county septic standards and implement state standards for septic

Thursday, September 4, 2025 at 3:00 AM

By Kathy Bottorff

During Monday’s Marshall County Commissioners’ meeting, the commissioners suspended the rules and passed an ordinance on all three readings that repealed all the local septic standards that the County Health Department has been using. The County Health Department will now follow the guidelines set forth by the State Health Department.

County Attorney Sean Surrisi said last year the commissioners passed an ordinance in December that allowed the county to exercise more stringent standards than the state. While the ordinance was adopted by the commissioners, it needed to be approved by the Indiana Department of Health’s Technical Review Committee. Research showed that Marshall County never sent the ordinance to the state for approval.

Surrisi said this ordinance will repeal Title 5, Chapter 53 of the Marshall County Code that addresses septic standards, and the repeal will default all the county standards on septic to the state standards that are already in place. Surrisi assured the commissioners that the repeal doesn’t do away with the regulations of sewer and septic systems in the county; it just simplifies things.

Commissioner Jesse Bohannon directed the county attorney to notify the County Health Department of the change.