Marysville staff report lead-service-line survey gaps; discuss moving sewer force main on Eleventh Road

City staff reported to the Marysville City Council that a web-based service-line survey required by state agencies contains many "unknown" responses, which the state treats as potential lead service lines, and urged residents to update survey answers so the city can avoid sending unnecessary lead-notification letters.

City Administrator Josh said "if they marked unknown, KDHE is assuming that it is lead. So then we have to send people notifications that they may have lead pipe. We're not saying that they do have lead in their water. We're just saying they may because we we have a whole bunch of unknowns." He encouraged residents to call City Hall for assistance in correcting entries.

In separate items under the consent agenda, staff and council discussed a sewer force main near Eleventh Road that in some places lies within inches of the road edge and could cause future maintenance or road-stability problems. Staff said some project records were hand-drawn and that the pipeline alignment was not fully accounted for in the original engineering design. Options discussed included leaving the line in place and accepting recurring access issues or moving the line further east into the right-of-way; moving the line would require fence removal in spots and additional work.

Staff said the line appears to be a force main and is located roughly 12 feet from the road in some areas; they said moving the line would avoid repeated disruption to the roadway and reduce risk of future road damage but might add cost. Staff said they are seeking protections where possible from design or construction contractors and evaluating how costs will be assigned.

Staff also reported a water-billing credit of roughly $700 for a customer whose leak was determined to be outside the customer's responsibility after inheriting rural water lines; the council approved a partial credit to normalize the bill.

Details - KDHE service-line survey: many residents marked "unknown," prompting state notifications; city will send outreach and assist with corrections. - Eleventh Road sewer main: staff reported the force main sits close to road edge in places (reported as a foot to a few inches in some locations); moving it would likely require moving fences and additional excavation; staff are evaluating options and liability. - Billing adjustment: credit of approximately $700 was applied to a customer account to reflect normal billing after an inherited leak not attributable to the customer.

Staff asked residents to complete the service-line survey accurately; city will continue outreach to reduce the number of "unknown" entries and the number of precautionary notifications triggered by the state.