A special meeting of the Eureka City Council was called for Tuesday, September 5 to afford for continued discussion of recommended improvements to the water and wastewater systems.
Representatives from BG Consultants were present last Tuesday evening to answer any questions city officials may have had in regards to drafted Preliminary Engineering Reports for recommended improvements to the water and wastewater systems.
With an approaching deadline for acceptance of a loan awarded to the city, Administrator Lucas Herb-Mullin noted that officials would need to let the state know if they were going to accept funds and proceed with a project or choose not to. Deadline for acceptance or denial was shared as October 16. The loan application would have to be submitted by this date, with it being noted that completing necessary paperwork was a lengthy process.
During their previous regular meeting, the City of Eureka announced that should they accept, the city was selected to receive loans for the following amounts: water system, $5,000,000 loan with $1,000,000 loan forgiveness and wastewater, $1,000,000 loan.
After stating that he did not want to commit to a wastewater project as they are in compliance, Councilman Richard Drake noted that he believed they should hold off on the water system to gather more information and look at other firms/options. After noting that he agreed on the wastewater side, Councilman Jeff Marks stated that he felt something should be done to the line to water source W7. “Do I want to spend more money as a city resident? No. But it is our responsibility as a group to have that,” Marks stated.
Council members Cinda Beals and Cindy Wolfsbauer agreed that nothing should be done to the wastewater system at this time, however improvements needed to be looked at in regards to the water system.
As the need for provision of water and drought conditions were discussed, Mayor Stephen Coulter stated, “I do not want to saddle the City of Eureka with this much debt.”
As actions made by previous councils were noted, Coulter stated “We can’t change what has happened in the past. What we can do is make a decision going forward and we need to do the best for the community.” He added that the question was, “What is the best choice for us going forward?”
Herb-Mullin was to notify the state that they would not be proceeding with the loan at this time in regards to the wastewater system.
Councilman Marks noted that additional information was needed before a determination was made in regards to the water system.
Wolfsbauer asked for a list of priority items for upgrade/ replacement from the water plant.
Coulter encouraged members of the council to ask any questions that they may have in the days to come.
Rural Water District staff member Pam Kurtz questioned if anyone had reached out to Kansas Rural Water Association (KRWA) to have them come to the plant and see what they would recommend as they offer this service for free. This was taken under advisement.
Councilman Jason Brandt was absent from the meeting.
The Eureka City Council also met on Monday, September 11 for their regular meeting. Coverage of this meeting will be included in next week’s edition.
