Understanding bureaucracy isn’t easy.
At the Marion City Council meeting Sept. 8, the council was told that the city did not qualify for money from a Kansas Department of Health and Environment revolving loan fund for a waterline replacement project.
The city had applied for a $102,703 Community Development Block Grant. The city wanted to use the revolving loan fund to match CDBG grant funds.
However, city officials were told that the city didn’t qualify for the loan because the city was proactive in rectifying a water quality problem.
Instead of allowing water that did not meet Environmental Protection Agency guidelines to go to customers, the city did a chlorine burnout and pumped water from a hydrant to keep chlorine residuals above the minimum requirement. It also kept the city’s water system in compliance.
Because the city was proactive, it does not qualify for the loan.
If the city had been cited by KDHE for violations of EPA guidelines, then it would have qualified for the loan.
Now that the city does not qualify for the KDHE revolving loan, a bond issue will have to passed so funds can be borrowed for the project, in case the city does not receive a CDBG.
“No matter what happens, we need to replace these lines,” City Administrator David Mayfield said. “We owe it to our customers to supply them with safe drinking water.”
With the weather being cool, Mayfield said the city shouldn’t experience the problem of chlorine residuals, but the problem will return when hot weather does.
-- SB