SUNRISE BEACH, Mo. — The Village of Sunrise Beach has removed Public Works Director Brian Scheiter from his sewer and water duties, after the sewage treatment plant Scheiter was responsible for was shown to have been discharging partially-treated sewage onto the hillside and creek that leads into a nearby Lake of the Ozarks cove. However, Scheiter has not been fired, the city said; he has been reassigned to other duties.
The news that the treatment plant was pumping out sewage was first published by LakeExpo and KY3, in early January. Three days later, the Department of Natural Resources says the found the plant was flowing brown effluent and sludge not just onto the hillside, but into the discharge stream that is supposed to carry safe, treated water, and leads into Lake of the Ozarks.
The Village Board of Trustees made the decision to pull Scheiter off sewer and water duties on Friday, Jan. 31 during a meeting at City Hall. During the same meeting, the Board decided to contract with Lake Ozark Environmental to begin operating its sewage treatment plant and water system, effective Monday, Feb. 3, 2020.
KY3's report on a second sewage dump into Lake of the Ozarks by the Village of Sunrise Beach. KY3 & LakeExpo's joint investigation broke the story of the first sewage dump, on Jan. 3, 2020.
A Frustrated Community
The decision was made in closed session, but preceding it, several citizens who own property in the affected cove gave the board an earful, demanding answers and action. Jeff Gebhart, who lives part-time at the Lake and part-time in Kansas City and owns a rental house in the cove, warned, “Lawyers are circling.” Children have played in that creek and cove for years, he said, adding, “You guys are going to jail!”
The reaction from the board members ranged from muted to defensive to even combative: Board Chairperson Debby Stoller demanded Gebhart apologize for cursing during the meeting. He did so, and then demanded the board own up to their mistakes. “Has anybody apologized to the neighborhood?” he asked. Stoller said she had issued an apology. Other board members insisted they had not known Scheiter was discharging sewage into the Lake. The entire board insisted, several times during the meeting, that they had had no knowledge that this was happening.
Melissa Lawhead, who lives with her husband and children in the neighborhood downhill from the treatment plant, wondered how that was possible. She said she had brought a water sample from the stream to City Hall, and she asked how the board could never have been informed about it.
“Moving forward, how are we supposed to feel safe in our cove?” she asked, noting she had not allowed her children to swim in the cove last year, after being concerned about the water coming from the creek.
Lawhead wondered, “How do we move forward with the trust?”
The board as a whole did not respond to multiple calls for an apology.
At one point, Lawhead looked right at Scheiter, and told him, “You owe this neighborhood an apology… for negligence.”
He responded, “The effluent from the plant has always been monitored. It’s always cleaner than the Lake itself. I can prove it. I’ve got the test results.” He then sat, avoiding eye contact with those in attendance, for the rest of the meeting.
The citizens also requested the board test the cove for high levels of e. Coli and Giardia; City Attorney Greg Williams said they had requested that service from outside consultants. He said the village sent out multiple requests for proposals for environmental studies of the effects of the sewage problems, and they expect bids back next week.
Lawhead also requested the city look into piping the discharged effluent elsewhere. “We can’t use that property anymore,” she said, noting her children used to play in the creek, because it only ran when it rained, but now the creek runs all the time and contains brown water and sludge.
After the public comment time, the board went into closed session, and then invited the attendees back into the room after closed session ended. They informed the room that Lake Ozark Environmental would handle sewer and water beginning Monday, and that while Scheiter would remain employed by the village, Stoller said, “He has nothing to do with water and sewer anymore.”
Meanwhile, Scheiter may lose his Missouri Wastewater & Drinking Water certifications. A letter from DNR notes Scheiter “admitted to willfully and repeatedly causing bypasses at the treatment facility; each bypass event is a separate violation, as is the failure to report each of those bypasses to the Department.” Scheiter has until Feb. 24 to submit any mitigating evidence or information to DNR.
