HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council had mixed feelings on a proposal from Reno County to take two rural sewer districts into the city’s waste water system.
Rural sewer districts 201 and 202 are located in Yoder and at the old naval base. The County is looking at options for dealing with the aging systems and one proposal would be to tie into the city’s waste water facility south of Hutchinson.
City Manager Jeff Cantrell expressed some concerns about tying into the rural systems since some of the area could be considered competition to the city when it comes to attracting business and industry to the area. It also could use up capacity that could be used by a new industry in Hutchinson.
Mayor Jade Piros de Carvalho stated that she would be willing to work with the county to see if using the city system is a viable solution. Councilmember John Daveline said he would like to see the county do more study to see if there were other options available to them. Public Works Director Don Brittain stated that the county does have other options they are looking at but wanted to approach the city and get their feelings on the proposal.
If the city agreed to the proposal it would add 101 new service customers to the water treatment plant.
Also Tuesday the Council gave approval on a 4 to 1 vote on a contract with T/B Electric for upgrades to the Hutchinson Zoo in an amount not to exceed $84,150.