Ind. Code § 8-1-2-89 – Sewers and sewer systems; certificate of territorial authority; municipal or county acquisition and operation

(a) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms have the following meanings:
1. (1) "Sewage disposal service" means any public utility service whereby liquid and solid waste, sewage, night soil, and industrial waste of any single territorial area is collected, treated, purified, and disposed of in a sanitary manner, and includes all sewage treatment plant or plants, main sewers, submain sewers, local and lateral sewers, intercepting sewers, outfall sewers, force mains, pumping stations, ejector stations, and all other equipment and appurtenances necessary or useful and convenient for the rendition of such service.
2. (2) "Sewage disposal company" means any natural person, firm, association, corporation, or partnership owning, leasing, or operating any sewage disposal service within the rural areas of Indiana, and all provisions of this chapter pertaining to a public utility shall apply with equal force and effect to a sewage disposal company, except insofar as said provisions may be inconsistent with specific provisions of this section.
3. (3) "Rural area" means territory lying within Indiana and lying outside the corporate limits of a municipality.
4. (4) "Certificate of territorial authority" means a certificate of convenience and necessity issued by the commission pursuant to this section, which said certificate shall be deemed an indeterminate permit, unless expressly conditioned otherwise by the commission when issued.
5. (5) "Notice of hearing" means notice of the time, place, and purpose of a hearing, given by publication in at least one (1) newspaper of general circulation in each of the counties in which the particular sewage disposal company operates or proposes to operate and given also in writing by United States registered mail:
  1. (A) to each other sewage disposal company operating in territory contiguous to the territory in which the particular sewage disposal company operates or proposes to operate;
  2. (B) to each municipality in territory contiguous and nearest to the territory in which the particular sewage disposal company operates or proposes to operate; and
  3. (C) to such other persons or entities which the commission may from time to time require by its rules and forms;
    all such notices shall be so mailed as to be received by the recipients at least ten (10) days prior to any hearing, or as otherwise required by the commission.
(b) It is hereby declared to be in the public interest to provide for the orderly development and rendering of sewage disposal service in rural areas within Indiana, and such public interest makes it necessary and desirable that to the extent provided in this section, the holding of a certificate of territorial authority should be required as a condition precedent to the rendering of such service, and that such operation be under the control, regulation, and supervision of the commission, and such sewage disposal companies shall not be subject to regulation by any municipality or county government or metropolitan regulatory body, or any branch or subdivisions of or substitutes for any municipality or county government or metropolitan regulatory body, in the form of special service districts, with the exception that said sewage disposal company shall be subject to the comprehensive plan, zoning, and subdivision requirements and regulations of the governmental units having jurisdiction in the area. However, all functions, powers, and duties of the Indiana department of health and the environmental rules board shall remain unaffected by this section.
(c) No sewage disposal company shall commence the rendering of sewage disposal service in any rural area in Indiana in which it is not actually rendering sewage disposal service, without first obtaining from the commission a certificate of territorial authority authorizing such sewage disposal service, finding that public convenience and necessity require such sewage disposal service within such rural area by such sewage disposal company, and defining and limiting specifically the rural area covered by the certificate. No sewage disposal company required to hold such a certificate under this section shall render any additional sewage disposal service within such rural area to any extent greater than that authorized by such certificate or shall continue to render sewage disposal service within such rural area if and after such certificate of territorial authority has been revoked or transferred as in this section provided, unless in such order of revocation or transfer the commission shall require continued service until a new sewage disposal company or municipality actually takes over such service. The commission shall not have the power to require extension of such service by any sewage disposal company into any additional territory than that defined and limited in such a certificate without the consent of such sewage disposal company.
(d) Whenever any sewage disposal company proposes to commence the rendering of sewage disposal service in any rural area, it shall file with the commission a verified application for a certificate of territorial authority to cover the proposed service. The commission shall by rule prescribe the form of the application and the information to be contained in the application, and such application by any such company shall conform to such prescribed form. The commission shall set the matter for hearing and notice of such hearing shall be given to the parties and in the manner defined in this section. Any city may, and upon petition to the commission shall, be made a party to any service proposal if its territorial limits lie within five (5) miles of the area to be serviced under this section.
(e) If, after notice of hearing and hearing on any application for a certificate of territorial authority, the commission shall find from the evidence introduced at such hearing, including any evidence which the commission shall have caused to be introduced as a result of any investigation which it may have made into the matter, that the applicant has proved:
1. (1) lawful power and authority to apply for said certificate and to operate said proposed service;
2. (2) financial ability to install, commence, and maintain said proposed service; and
3. (3) public convenience and necessity require the rendering of the proposed service in the proposed rural area by this particular sewage disposal company; however, in the event the service is proposed for a proposed rural real estate addition, division, or development, or any part thereof, the reasonably expected sewage disposal service requirements of the anticipated residents may be found to constitute such public convenience and necessity;
  then the certificate of territorial authority, defining and limiting the rural area to be covered by the certificate, shall be granted to the applicant, subject to such terms, restrictions, limitations, and conditions, including but not limited to a reasonable time in which to commence operations, as the commission shall determine to be necessary and desirable in the public interest.
(f) In cases of applications filed by two (2) or more sewage disposal companies seeking the issuance of a certificate of territorial authority for the same area or areas or any conflicting portions thereof, the commission may either consider such applications separately or by consolidation of two (2) or more or all within a single hearing at its discretion and shall have the power to issue its certificate after notice of hearing and hearing to any single qualified sewage disposal company for a particular rural area, or, in the event that the commission determines and finds that two (2) or more or all applicants seeking the same area or areas or any conflicting portions thereof are both or all qualified, then the commission shall have the power to determine which is the better or best qualified, or whether the same area or areas or any conflicting portions thereof shall be divided between or among such qualified applicants. However, in no event shall such area or areas or portions thereof be greater than that for which the particular applicant applied, unless such sewage disposal company shall consent and agree in writing to such modification of its application and the issuance of such modified certificate.
(g) After the issuance of such certificate, no other sewage disposal company shall render sewage disposal service in the area or areas so determined and so defined in any certificate of territorial authority issued by the commission, except after notice of hearing and hearing, and the determination and finding by the commission that public convenience and necessity require that sewage disposal service in said same area or areas be also rendered or offered by an additional or another company, and the issuance of a certificate duly granted by the commission as provided in this section.
(h) A sewage disposal company shall be required to furnish reasonable adequate sewage disposal services and facilities for which said service and facilities it shall be entitled to charge reasonable, nondiscriminatory rates, subject to the jurisdiction of the commission for the purpose of fixing said rates to be charged to patrons of such sewage disposal company for sewage disposal service, and for such purpose the commission is given jurisdiction to proceed in the same manner and with like power as is provided by this chapter in the case of public utilities.
(i) To encourage the installation of sewage treatment plants, and sewers, mains, stations, and all other equipment and appurtenances for rendering sewage disposal service in rural areas in close proximity to municipalities, and to ensure that a sewage disposal company which had made such installation in such area can recover the cost of its investment, in the event that the area or areas or any part thereof included within the territory granted under a certificate of territorial authority shall be annexed by any municipality at any time within twelve (12) years from the date that such certificate was granted, a sewage disposal company operating under such certificate shall continue to operate under such certificate of territorial authority, subject to the exclusive jurisdiction and regulation of the commission, for the unexpired portion of such period of twelve (12) years from the date of granting such certificate, or, in the case of a determinate permit specifying a term shorter than twelve (12) years, then for the unexpired portion of such lesser period as specified by such permit from the date of granting such permit. However, the foregoing provisions in regard to continued operation within the corporate limits of a municipality after annexation shall not affect the right of the sewage disposal company to cease its operation of providing sewage disposal service within such annexed territory prior to the termination of said twelve
(12) year or lesser determinate permit period, upon thirty (30) days written notice to the commission, the municipality, and all patrons.
(j) Upon approval by the commission given after notice of hearing and hearing, but not otherwise, any certificate of territorial authority may:
1. (1) be sold, assigned, leased, or transferred by the holder of the certificate to any sewage disposal company to which a territorial certificate might be lawfully issued; or
2. (2) be included in the property and rights encumbered under any indenture of mortgage or deed of trust of such holder;
  or any sewage treatment plant or plants, sewers, mains, stations, and equipment and appurtenances for the rendering of sewage disposal service or any part of any sewage treatment plant or plants, sewers, mains, stations, and equipment and appurtenances may be sold, assigned, leased, or transferred by the holder of the certificate to any municipality if these assets lie within an area which shall have been annexed by such municipality or lie within the given radius of miles from the corporate limits of such municipality into which it is authorized to render such services, if such municipality is prepared to render a comparable sewage disposal service without loss of continuity of service, and if the terms of such sale, assignment, lease, or transfer are reasonable. However, once the commission has given its approval to such transaction and the transaction itself is actually consummated, the commission shall have no control over the sewage disposal service rendered by such municipality as a municipally owned utility (as defined in this chapter).
(k) Any certificate of territorial authority may, after notice of hearing and hearing, be revoked by the commission, in whole or in part, for the failure of the holder of the certificate to furnish reasonably adequate sewage disposal service within the area or areas determined and defined in such certificate of territorial authority, or for the failure of the holder of the certificate to comply with any applicable order or rule prescribed by the commission in the exercise of its powers under this chapter, or for failure to comply with any term, condition, or limitation of such certificate of territorial authority.
(l) After the commission revokes any certificate of territorial authority under subsection (k) or after the county board of health determines the existence of a serious health problem related to the sewage disposal facility, the county commissioners of the county in which the sewage disposal facility is located may acquire the facility, subject to the approval of the acquisition by the county council, except that the county commissioners may not acquire any facility already acquired by any city or town. The county commissioners shall acquire the sewage disposal facility by:
1. (1) gift, grant, purchase, or condemnation that is funded in the same manner that cities and towns fund sewage treatment acquisitions under IC 36-9 ; or
2. (2) a lease arrangement that is funded in the same manner that cities and towns fund leases of sewage disposal facilities under IC 36-9 .
  After acquisition, the county commissioners shall repair, operate, and maintain the sewage disposal facility and charge user fees for these services.
  Formerly: Acts 1913, c.76, s.97c; Acts 1957, c.313, s.2. As amended by Acts 1976, P.L.25, SEC.1; Acts 1981, P.L.11, SEC.41; P.L.143-1985, SEC.186; P.L.23-1988, SEC.27; P.L.2-1992, SEC.76; P.L.113-2014, SEC.15; P.L.136-2018, SEC.51; P.L.56-2023, SEC.49.