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Ellsworth council agrees to pay for resident’s septic system after 8-year dispute
Summary
After years of promises and contention, the City of Ellsworth voted to fund and install a septic system and grant a variance for Joanne Kennedy rather than extend a costly sewer line now; councilors framed the decision as a compromise to resolve a long-standing issue while keeping options for future connection.
The City of Ellsworth council voted Oct. 28 to pay for a new septic system for Joanne Kennedy and grant the variance needed to keep it inside city limits, resolving a dispute about a promised sewer connection that Kennedy said dates back eight years.
Kennedy told the council she had been told she would be connected to city sewer years earlier and said she could not shoulder the cost herself. “I’ve been waiting 8 years because I was supposed to be connected 8 years ago,” Kennedy said (S2). Council members discussed three options: extend the sewer line now at a much higher cost, install and maintain a septic system for Kennedy now, or delay until development justified a sewer extension.
Councilor (S6) moved to provide Kennedy with a city-funded septic system and to keep her in the city limits; another councilor seconded the motion and it carried by voice vote. The council explicitly included the variance required to allow a septic tank inside city limits in the motion so the installation would be permitted. “We’re gonna correct it by giving you a free septic system,” S6 told Kennedy during the discussion.
City staff and councilors framed the decision as a compromise that addresses Kennedy’s immediate public-health concern while preserving options if development later makes a sewer extension more practical. Staff noted permitting and Kansas Department of Health and Environment approvals complicate a full sewer extension and that a $133,000 line for expansion would be difficult to justify now.
Council directed staff to follow up on related matters Kennedy raised, including the prior fence removal and historical promises about connection, and to report back with any necessary purchase requests and paperwork. The council also said it would revisit broader utility expansion plans through ongoing capital projects and TIF work.
