HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Board of County Commissioners held a study session on sanitation regulations with representatives from the Reno County Health Department and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in attendance on Tuesday.
"We're saying, we're going to provide black and white certification requirements," said commission chair Daniel Friesen. "Once they do that, if they are a licensed contractor and they file a permit and attach their analysis, we're going to take their analysis, because they are certified."
Also, the plan is not to let those regulations slow down the construction process.
"We're going to make a recommendation on turnaround time," Friesen said. "We saw on other permits, there was 24 to 48 hours, I think the commission would like to see some quick turn in policy."
In addition, if a project meets national standards and a professional engineer submits a plan, the commission wants to see that approved.
"The goal is to not contaminate the water," Friesen said. "If you get a P.E. letter that says, this will not contaminate the groundwater, that seems like a way to get the job done."
The whole goal is to only regulate what must be done to make sure professional eyes have to sign off on projects, not to create additional work for project managers.
Any changes in the sanitation code must be approved by KDHE and the Department of Agriculture and seen by several staff, so even when a final draft of a rewrite comes back, it will likely be three to six months at the state level before changes can be finalized.
The Sanitation Code at the Reno County level is a 50 page document last updated in 2003. The KDHE minimum standards are a 19 page document, last updated in 2019.
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