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Kechi considers water runoff fee
By Taylor Messick
Last Updated: February 21, 2019

The City of Kechi is "behind the times" with its stormwater system, and a new fee may be in the cards for residents and businesses.

The city council on Jan. 24 heard from assistant public works director Thomas Bevan about a recent report from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

KDHE recently visited the city to inspect its stormwater practices. This was likely brought about due to the city's recent growth and development.

"It kind of opened our eyes to what we've been doing," said Bevan. "I guess we're kind of behind the times down here, so we got some suggestions on some things we can do to improve. They said the EPA isn't going to be as nice as KDHE if they have to come down here."

One suggestion was to develop a map of the city's stormwater system and its retention ponds. KDHE suggested investing in barriers for storm drains to keep out unwanted materials. They also suggested marking storm drains so they are identifiable to the public and educating the public on things they can do to help stormwater drain better for themselves and the rest of the city. One of the biggest needs is better surveillance of the new businesses building in town to ensure they are also following stormwater guidelines.

A representative of KDHE suggested to Bevan that the city consider a stormwater fee for residents. Those fees are used to generate funds that help keep up with the costs of stormwater maintenance and help cities adhere to the strict environmental guidelines being placed upon them by higher government agencies.

Kechi is one of the only cities in Sedgwick County that does not charge a stormwater fee. The council discussed the option of adding such a fee in late 2016. The estimated cost to the city per year for stormwater maintenance was estimated about $28,000 at the time.

The city took no action on the item for now, but Bevan made it clear to the council that changes would need to be made if the city wanted to keep the EPA happy and away from Kechi. He said the city currently doesn't have anyone monitoring new construction sites, which is an obstacle to being compliant with stormwater guidelines.

"There has to be someone to enforce the laws that the city has submitted and right now there's not," said Bevan. "It's almost an everyday job with the way the city is growing right now. For somebody to watch the concrete guys and the roofers and make sure they're picking up after themselves and make sure everything is being done the right way. I think the (city workers) spent a couple hundred hours picking up trash this year, and that's something we have never had to do before because we didn't have the growth we have now. (KDHE) kind of gave us that warning and let us know that (they) have the gloves on, but the EPA might not if they have to come in."

In other business Jan. 24, the council:

•Watched a presentation about the new city website from finance director Nicole Bailey.

•Unanimously voted to stay with the health and dental plans for city employees.

•Unanimously voted to give the city administrator the authority to fill vacant positions for the police department and public works.

All members of the council were present. There was a 10-minute executive session and no binding action was taken.





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