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Arkansas City adopts ordinance to accept state loan for water treatment upgrades to address manganese
Summary
The commission adopted an ordinance authorizing a loan agreement with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment from the Kansas Public Water Supply Loan Fund to finance a new filter at the city water treatment plant intended to remove manganese; the measure passed on a roll-call vote.
The Arkansas City Commission voted unanimously on a roll-call to adopt an ordinance authorizing execution of a loan agreement with the State of Kansas, acting through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), for financing a public water supply project at the city water treatment plant intended to remove manganese.
City staff described the funding as a Kansas Public Water Supply Loan Fund award under the state's emerging contaminant program, provided as a principal forgiveness loan. "This is for the green filter at the water treatment plant," a city speaker said, adding the project "will be treating manganese in our water, to help remove the manganese." The transcript records the loan amount as stated by staff in the meeting as "2,000,008, $89,000," and a principal forgiveness percentage was mentioned but not specified in the record.
Commissioners made and seconded a motion to adopt the ordinance authorizing the loan agreement. The measure went to roll-call vote; commissioners recorded "Yes" votes for Commissioner Spillman, Commissioner Stover, Commissioner Tweedy, Commissioner Warren and Mayor Beeson. The ordinance was adopted and staff was directed to proceed with required documents.
City staff characterized the loan as effectively similar to a grant because of principal forgiveness, though they noted there will be some minimal interest during the project period. The project was described as straightforward and expected to add approximately one-third more capacity for water usage while addressing the manganese removal requirement.
The commission approved the ordinance on a unanimous roll-call vote. The transcript does not include the precise forgiveness percentage or a clear, single numeric loan amount (the staff statement of the amount in the transcript is unclear), so those details are recorded here as "as stated in the transcript" rather than as independently verified figures. City staff indicated they had previously voted to apply for the funding and that this ordinance completes the authorization to enter the loan agreement.
