Carthage council hears presentation on Stockton Lake reallocation; first reading seeks mayoral authority to join regional water commission

Carthage city officials on Tuesday heard a detailed presentation on a regional plan to secure reallocated drinking water from Stockton Lake and gave a first reading to an ordinance that would authorize the mayor to sign a subagreement with the Southwest Missouri Joint Municipal Water Utility Commission.

The presentation by Chuck Bryant, general manager of Carthage Water & Electric, and Rodney Roberts, chief executive of the Southwest Missouri Joint Municipal Water Utility Commission, described a multidecade effort to obtain and deliver additional water supplies for southwest Missouri. Council members were asked to authorize the mayor to sign a pass‑through contract with the commission if and when the commission presents a final agreement.

The commission and its member utilities sought a reallocation of storage at Stockton Lake from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Roberts said the coalition has worked for more than 20 years, pursuing reservoir reallocation and other options to close a regional supply gap. “If there’s no water, there is no future,” Roberts told the council, urging action to secure supply while favorable cost terms remain available.

Officials described the financial terms presented to participating cities as substantially discounted from current market estimates because of legislative pricing protections they secured. The commission’s offer described a regional package priced at roughly $27,000,000 under 2010‑based pricing; presenters said that figure represents a significant reduction compared with later cost estimates that had approached $50,000,000. Carthage’s estimated allocation in the materials shown to council was 7,168 acre‑feet, which presenters said would yield about 3 million gallons per day (MGD). In the presentation the city’s share of annual amortized debt service was shown as about $160,000 a year, plus roughly $32,000 a year for operations and maintenance; presenters said those figures could change if additional grants or state support are secured.

Council members asked technical questions. One council member asked about the possible drop in Stockton Lake’s surface elevation; Roberts and Bryant said the change would be comparable to a year’s evaporation and described the action as a Corps reallocation of existing storage among authorized uses rather than a new withdrawal that would permanently remove water. Roberts said overall net effects are complex but described the reallocation as largely replacing one authorized use with another.

What the council approved at first reading was council bill 25‑53, described in the agenda as “an ordinance authorizing the city of Carthage, Missouri to enter into a sub agreement with the Southwest Missouri Joint Municipal Water Utility Commission regarding reallocated water storage space in Stockton Lake.” The item received a first reading only; no final vote authorizing execution of a contract occurred at the meeting.

The presentation outlined next steps: member governments would formally authorize the mayor to sign when the commission presents the final Corps contract; the commission would then sign on behalf of its members and pass through storage allocations to participating cities under individual pass‑through contracts. Roberts and Bryant said additional details — including the route and construction plan for conveyance pipe to Carthage and final cost shares — remain to be determined and will be included with future contract documents.

The mayor and council did not set a final approval date; councilmembers indicated they would review the full contract when it is presented and continue questions about costs, operations, and potential state financial assistance.