Alva Review-Courier -

Kiowa residents expressing upset that the city burn site is still closed after vandalism, and discussion and action on the proposed $8.2 million city waterline replacement project took up the most time at the three-hour Kiowa City Council meeting July 9.

Since that meeting there’s good news with the burn site, as it’s scheduled to be open temporarily, Kiowa City Administrator Lou Leone confirmed to the Newsgram at noon Tuesday. Out of town at a public information officer course, via phone Leone said the tentative times for the burn site to be opened are this Friday 4-7 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to noon. Leone said only tree limbs are allowed, no grass clippings.

Kiowa resident Randy Robbins had volunteered at the July 9 meeting to sit at the burn site for a designated time (like those mentioned above) so the public could dump tree limbs as there are many lying around town due to recent storms. However, after checking with the attorney Leone said there is a legal issue with a non-city employee manning the site for liability reasons.

Tuesday Leone said he is finding one or two city employees to man the site Friday and Saturday. Those people will be paid overtime, according to Leone.

Regarding the water project, as reported in the Newsgram last week, at this meeting the council discussed the urgent need to meet the required number (about 525) of Low to Moderate Income surveys collected by this Monday. To do this a concerted effort had to be made by the city to get the approximate 60 surveys they were short.

Kiowa’s City Clerk Trish Brewer reported Tuesday that the city collected the required number and a little beyond of LMI surveys and they were mailed. This information helps the city get grants and better interest rates on loans through the USDA for projects like the waterline replacement.

All members were present as Kiowa Mayor Ron Rohr opened the meeting with the Lord’s Prayer and flag salute. They are: Bill Watson, R.L. Simpson, Russ Molz, Brian Hill and Tom Wells. Also seated at council’s table were Leone and Brewer. City attorney Laurel McClellan was absent.

Public Agenda Comments on Burn Site and More

When Mayor Rohr asked for any public comments from the crowd of residents attending the meeting, several spoke. The first was Aimee Bryan who served on the committee to help in planning the floor plan, color of paint, etc., for the to-be-renovated existing city building. Earlier in the spring the city purchased the Terwort building next door and has plans to merge the two buildings into the city office and also house the police department.

Bryan asked Leone why there is no progress about the project to report on the agenda. She understood they were to send out bids on the project and there was an urgency to get it started. “It’s been six or eight weeks now. I didn’t know why.” Leone said it’s been four weeks. She asked him if bids have gone out and he said they are “just waiting.”

Next, resident Terry Sciara spoke. Sciara told council he wants them to repeal Ordinance 18-449 and reinstate the old ordinance.

Sciara said the ordinance “gives too much power to one man in this town.”

Through more statements and discussion, Sciara was referring to the city administrator. To clarify what departments the city administrator is over, council members said: street, electric, water and sewer, trash, police.

The comments turned to the status of the city’s burn site where Kiowa residents have routinely dumped their grass and tree limbs for years. The site is located one mile east of Kiowa across from the cemetery. The city closed the burn site over one month ago after shingles, construction material and a variety of trash such as diapers were dumped there. Someone reportedly vandalized the site, destroying the gate, ripping it down and throwing it in the road.

Leone said an inspector who toured the site told him that Kiowa is not permitted to dispose of grass clippings there. Researching the subject, Leone said Kiowa has not been permitted for grass (compost) for many years, an estimated two decades. He said fines could be up to $2,000/day. Kiowa is currently permitted for LIMBS ONLY at the burn site.

However, Leone told the Newsgram he has submitted an application for Kiowa’s burn site to be permitted to accept grass clippings. He said it will hopefully be approved in about two weeks.

Rex Zimmerman of the Kiowa News asked if the city is responsible for providing residents with a place to dispose of limbs such as the burn site. The answer is “no.” He pointed out that providing the burn site is only a courtesy the city provides for its residents.

Leone mentioned that the city runs grass routes the third Thursday of the month to pick up bagged grass clippings and other yard waste, especially for those residents who cannot do it themselves, like elderly residents.

Many more comments were made by residents upset with the closing of the burn site and other issues like tree limbs covering electric lines in some areas around town.

Wells said, “We’re trying to fix problems that have been swept under the rug for years – sluffed off to the next council.”

Leone added, “We have a limited budget to deal with all of this.”

Simpson said the council is meeting with security camera people soon to try and solve the issue.

Resident Kem Humphrey told the council, “The whole town wants this fixed. We’re asking you to get the thing (burn site) open for a little bit of time.” Ann Walz said, “Aren’t you here to listen to the people?”

That’s when Robbins volunteered to sit at the burn site. The council unanimously approved that Robbins could sit at the site and accept tree limbs only, no grass.

As reported in the Newsgram last week, Leone said the City of Kiowa has near $450,000 claims from two fires that may have originated from the city’s burn site.

Waterline Replacement Project Moving Forward

Sam Johnson with BG Consultants again attended the council meeting. He provided an update for the waterline replacement project for 10 miles of line from Kiowa’s water wells southeast of Sharon, Kansas, to Kiowa. He also discussed interim financing.

Johnson said BG is identifying existing water lines, land right-of-ways, etc. They are sending letters to landowners. He said BG wants to keep transparent during this process.

The council and BG will hold a public/town hall meeting Monday, August 20 at Kiowa’s Community Building on the waterline project.

In moving the project along, council approved several items including:

• Authorizing Leone to work on the SRF loan with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE).

• Approving BG Consultants to do the engineering coordination paperwork for the SRF loan program at a cost not to exceed $8500.

• Authorizing Leone to work with Phillip Fishburn of the Midwest Assistance Program (MAPS) on the SRF loan.

• Approving BG Consultants to do contract amendment work for Phase II of the waterline replacement project.

Leone wanted to clarify the cost of having this improved water line for Kiowa customers in their monthly city bill is $7.23/month, based on 5,000 gallons of water. Customers currently pay $32.77 for 5,000 gallons of water. With the waterline improvement, the cost rises to $40 for 5,000 gallons of water. That’s from where the $7.23 figure comes.

The remaining items of the city council meeting will run in a separate story.