Immediate Notification of "Private Sewer"

Soon after the City crew arrived to service the manhole cover in our neighbor's driveway, Kevin Sylvester from the City asked to come into our house, our basement, to take pictures.  We agreed.  We had been taking pictures all along, too.

When Mr. Sylvester came up the stairs, he said good-bye to my husband who was in the living room and mentioned something about he was leaving and that we were on a "private sewer."

I could hear the husband yelling my name from inside the house as I was outside.  I thought he had been hurt or something horrific had happened.

Turns out, he was trying to get my attention and have Mr. Sylvester tell me about the "private sewer" before he dodged away. 

I immediately came to the house and caught Mr. Sylvester in our garage.  That's when I heard it for the first time--"private sewer."  The look I gave him is one I have now seen on others when I tell them that their home could be on a "private sewer." 

I told Mr. Sylvester that I didn't believe him.  I told him that I had never heard of such a thing.  I asked him why we pay a monthly sewer fee.  I even told him that this "private sewer" sounds like a line they give homeowners when they don't want to take responsibility.  He kept using the line over and over and skedaddled out of our garage as quickly as he could.

I'm still shaking and scratching my head over this one as here are the pieces that don't match:

• When we submitted the claim for reimbursement, the City's insurance company said "no" because we were on a "private sewer" and when pressed about why the City crews came and serviced the line three times between Nov. 27 and Dec. 10, the insurance company said "the crew didn't know it wasn't a City sewer."  Huh?  Kevin Sylvester came with the City crew--he works for the City.  He was telling me that very day I was on a "private sewer" so the crew had to have known--they were with Mr. Sylvester.  This just doesn't match!
• Now that other homeowners are calling to find out the status of their sewer, they are having to wait 24 hours or longer for the Public Works Department to look it up and get back to them.  Why was it that the City knew the status of our sewer immediately?  We didn't have to wait to find out.  We were told the minute Mr. Sylvester came up out of our basement!

What do you think?  Is "private sewer" just a line given to homeowners who experience difficulties to remove the City from responsibility?