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Sedgwick County approves $125,000 match to unlock state funds for groundwater health testing in 20th & Grove plume
Summary
Commissioners authorized $125,000 in county matching funds to leverage $1,000,000 in state match funding and $1,500,000 in state testing funds for environmental 'at-risk' testing tied to a decades-old rail contamination plume near 20 Ninth and Grove, with conditions on contracting and administration.
The Sedgwick County Board of County Commissioners voted Feb. 5 to authorize $125,000 in county matching funds to support state-led environmental at-risk testing for residents in the plume area near 20 Ninth and Grove.
County Manager Tom Stultz briefed the board that the state had already provided $1,500,000 for testing and offered an additional $1,000,000 contingent on a local dollar-for-dollar match. With prior commitments of $500,000 from the Kansas Health Foundation and $125,000 from the city of Wichita, the county’s $125,000 would raise the local match to $750,000 and leverage a total of $3,000,000 for testing and related services.
Stultz told commissioners the county’s expenditure would be contingent on entering an agreement with a third party to administer the testing. "The expenditure of these funds would be contingent on the county entering into an agreement with a third party to act as the county's contractor in administering the environmental at risk testing for the county," he said. He identified the Kansas Health Foundation as the potential contractor administrator via a sole-source arrangement under discussion.
Commissioners discussed the technical and community-communication challenges around the contamination plume. Commissioner Howell, who spoke at length during the item, said he would support the county match but cautioned the current plan was a short-term approach and urged a long-term, sustainable solution for Sedgwick County’s many contamination sites. Howell noted concerns about KDHE reporting methods and the need for clearer population denominators in cancer-rate analyses; he called for KDHE to revise its report.
Commissioner Beatty and others emphasized that testing and health-clinic capacity must be organized so the effort does not become a one-time surge that local providers cannot sustain. Commissioner Bluebaugh said the county's investment in equipment and processes could serve the broader county because groundwater contamination exists across Sedgwick County.
Chairman Beatty moved the motion authorizing the $125,000 match with the contingency that a county agreement with a third-party contractor be approved. The motion passed on a roll-call vote: Commissioners Bluebaugh, Wise, Howell, Meitzner and Chairman Beatty all voted aye. County staff said the money would come from the BOCC contingency and be transferred to the public safety community program in the general fund, pending execution of the contractor agreement.
