DEARBORN COUNTY, Ind. — The water fights have reached a boiling point at Hidden Valley Lake in Dearborn County. And that could spell big changes for the gated residential community.
Residents of the 2,000-home development are demanding answers about rate hikes and service outages caused by a $14 million system upgrade.
Valley Rural Utility Co. (VRUC) says it’s doing the best it can with pipes installed in the 1970s.
“While we had hoped that this project would occur 100% perfectly as planned it has not. Most construction projects have their issues,” wrote Bill Neyer, VRUC’s general manager, in a Jan. 9 letter to the Hidden Valley Property Owners Association (POA).
POA General Manager Jeremy Mayes responded with a Jan. 13 statement to VRUC’s board that requested 11 specific reforms, including monthly public meetings to give regular project updates.
“Hidden Valley Lake continues to experience an unacceptable frequency of outages, inconsistent pressure, sediment intrusion, and prolonged restoration times,” Mayes wrote. “These are not isolated events; they represent a pattern that has eroded confidence in the system.”
Christmas Day fire sparked the squabble
The controversy was among several issues raised by Dearborn County residents at WCPO’s “Let’s Talk” event in Lawrenceburg on Jan. 22. So, the WCPO 9 I-Team has been digging into the details to answer questions raised by residents.
Questions like these from Matt Euson, board president of the POA and a 17-year owner at Hidden Valley: “What’s your budget? How much have you spent? What’s your schedule? How much of it have you used?”
It turns out some of those questions were answered in a public meeting that VRUC hosted in April 2024. Only 35 people attended, including contractors and utility employees.
“That’s very disheartening,” said Neyer, a former Harrison Mayor who joined VRUC in 2022. “We talked about the funding mechanisms, the scope of the project, the impact of each of the five major parts of the project on the customers and probably less than 20 of the people at the meeting were actual customers.”
WATCH: WCPO's I-Team spoke to residents and officials about concerns raised in the community
Of course, nothing focuses the public’s attention like a crisis. And Hidden Valley Lake’s water project got one on Christmas Day, when a retail center across from the community’s main entrance went up in flames.
“Our half-million-gallon tank was already empty. We are renovating it,” Neyer said. “So, we are on temporary water. We have one-tenth of our normal volume of reserve. They hooked onto one of our hydrants and pulled down our system.”
Next came two weeks of new leaks and breaks in Hidden Valley’s 50-year-old water pipes, along with boil water advisories and dozens of calls asking why this project wasn’t better planned.
Now that everyone is paying attention, here are some of those previously disclosed answers. Both boards are comprised of Hidden Valley residents, and both once operated as affiliates of Rupel's development company, Lloyd's Acceptance Corp. But their differing missions caused the two boards to split in the 1990s.
Hidden Valley history
This is the first major overhaul of the water pipes laid by developer James Rupel, who launched the 1,700-acre development in 1970 as a weekend getaway for about 300 property owners.
Over time, Hidden Valley Lake became an amenities-rich, full-time neighborhood with more than 5,000 residents, a 150-acre lake and six smaller lakes, not to mention an 18-hole golf course and an Olympic-sized pool clubhouse.
The original sewer system was upgraded in 2009, with a seven-year project on which the utility still owes about $10 million in debt. That debt is being paid with VRUC’s annual sewer revenue, which totaled $2.1 million in 2025.
The water project carries an estimated construction cost of $14 million, offset by a $2 million grant, $1 million in capital reserves and up to $1.8 million in reimbursement for lead abatements.
When the construction ends this summer, Neyer said he expects 30 years of bond debt totaling about $10 million, with the utility paying a subsidized interest rate in the low 3% range.
To pay off that water debt, VRUC enacted three rounds of water rate hikes that amount to a 90% increase. Its minimum rate for 2,000 gallons of monthly water usage jumped from $19.06 to $35.61, while its annual water revenue jumped by $519,000 to $1.2 million.
The water project includes funding to renovate a 500,000-gallon storage tank, replace about three miles of 2-inch pipe that’s prone to leaks and install a new section of 8-inch water. That will let water flow both ways in a complete circle around the development – making it easier to fix small leaks without shutting down large sections of the community.
Big changes afoot?
POA leaders say they're trying to work collaboratively with VRUC to address residents' concerns. Neyer says that's his goal too.
“I will say that I think the general manager right now is doing the best that he can with a very difficult situation,” Euson said. “I do think he’s the man for the job. I think he has the expertise for the job.”
But service interruptions continued into this week, when a water main break impacted two streets. So, residents continue to have questions.
“I’ve personally experienced three to four outages in the last month,” Euson said. “The least amount it’s been out is four to six hours. The most it’s been out is a day. It means that no one’s showering, no one’s doing laundry, no one’s doing dishes. I mean, it’s significantly impactful to our lives as residents.”
Neyer said about 60% of the project’s service interruptions were planned events in which crews shut off water to replace pipes. All of them were disclosed in advance in daily alerts that residents can receive by text or email. But that still leaves dozens of events that were unplanned, like the water main breaks that followed the Christmas fire.
Beyond that, some residents are raising questions about the utility’s 30-year contract to purchase water and sewer services from nearby Greendale. Neyer said the utility has explored alternatives to the Greendale contract, but determined it would be too costly to start its own water and sewage treatment plants.
Euson said those ideas should be explored in a public setting.
“Right now, information’s in a vacuum,” Euson said. “I think the customers need to have a chance to voice their concerns directly to the utility, to the board and to the general manager, and have that opportunity to get straight answers from the folks who have access to the financials and the contracts.”
Mayes said other Hidden Valley Lake residents have questioned whether the utility’s board has grown too insular. Three of its seven members have served more than eight years, including one who joined in 2003.
“Members of our own board do not recall ever seeing an election take place,” Mayes said. “There should be a rotation of your board members. Every few years a couple people should come off and other people should come on and you get new ideas.”
Neyer said three board seats are up for re-election in May. Any Hidden Valley Lake property owner can nominate themselves if two additional owners sign their petition. But no election is held unless there are more candidates than the number of seats available.
“Turnover on a board can be very beneficial, or it can be very disruptive,” Neyer said. “You want to have people on a board of directors that understand what their role is and have either the willingness to learn or the background to step in and be productive.”
Mayes said he wouldn’t be surprised if new candidates emerge this year. And Euson took it a step further. He thinks the POA take control of the VRUC board.
“The POA, its board of directors and its general manager should be the people deciding on the budget, the rate schedule, the infrastructure upgrades, overseeing the capital reserve accounts,” Euson said. “If the POA took it over, then we would be able to consolidate maintenance budgets, consolidate operating budgets, consolidate capital purchases and save the residents money.”
