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Gardner City utilities report: outages, repairs, inspections and project timelines
Summary
Commissioners reviewed March electric reliability metrics, first-quarter sewer and water repair statistics, inspection progress on sanitary sewers, several construction updates and a public power reliability award.
The Utilities Advisory Commission received quarterly performance updates April 3 covering electric reliability, sanitary sewer and water distribution repairs, inspection programs and multiple construction projects.
Electric reliability: staff said February showed no reliability events and March recorded five customer interruptions. January accounted for 1,186 customer interruptions, staff said; commissioners were told staff believes several January outages were caused by animals striking equipment. "At that time, the average time to restore service was only 46 minutes," a staff member said. Staff presented summary reliability indexes for March and year to date.
Sewer repairs and I&I work: staff reported 30 sanitary sewer line repairs affecting nine customers in the first quarter; causes listed included grease, damage by others, resident issues and other causes. The average daytime response time for sewer work was reported as 32 minutes with an average repair time of 6 hours and 1 minute; after-hours response averaged 11 minutes with after-hours repair averaging about 1 hour and 60 minutes (transcript phrasing). Staff said approximately 20 miles of sanitary sewer line were CCTV inspected in 2024 as part of an infiltration and inflow (I&I) program, and the city has about 150 miles of sanitary sewer in total.
Water distribution repairs: staff reported 15 water-distribution service repairs affecting about 12 customers during the quarter. Reported average response and repair times were higher for daytime work — staff identified one repair with a 130-hour repair time after a vehicle struck a fire hydrant and a replacement repair kit had to be procured, and staff said that single long repair skewed the averages. Staff provided a breakdown of causes and the overall average repair time of roughly 9 hours and 48 minutes.
Project updates: staff provided status updates on multiple capital projects — Kill Creek wastewater treatment plant expansion (staff estimated completion in fall 2026), a new maintenance building behind the administration building (staff said it could be completed by September 2025), Circuit 31 overhead line work (ongoing through 2025), a tower rehabilitation on 180th Street planned for 2025, a new Moonlight–180th Street water transmission-line preliminary design advertised with a bid due April 18, 2025, and Wynwood Park lift-station work with environmental review complete.
Manholes and corrosion: staff said H2S-related corrosion has damaged several manholes and that replacement or repair work is planned; the problem was identified in 2022–2023.
Awards: staff told the commission the city was awarded the Reliability Public Power Provider Award (RP3) — valid for three years — recognizing municipal reliability; staff said the city applied in 2021 and earned the award in 2024.
Votes at a glance: the commission approved the consent agenda by voice vote (motion by Commissioner Waller; second by Commissioner Edwards). The commission later moved to adjourn (motion by Commissioner Edwards; second by Commissioner Waller) and adjourned by voice vote. No roll-call tallies were recorded in the meeting transcript.
