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ARMA —
Franklin Rural Water District No. 7 has been at odds with the City of Arma lately about whether to continue to purchase water from the city.
Arma recently built a six-inch pipeline to the district and had been selling water to Franklin for about a year. The city built the pipeline at Franklin’s request under a deal in which the city would pay the $11,000 construction cost if Franklin provided the material. Arma signed a contract to provide the district with water for 25 years, and Franklin had the option to back out after a year. And that’s exactly what happened. Franklin also approached Arma about a deal to acquire the district, but negotiations on that deal stalled.
“It’s very complicated,” Arma City Council president Buddy Bualle said, adding that before the city can acquire the district, by law it must have a contract to provide it with water. In October the council decided not to continue to pursue negotiations with the district because of existing questions about the cost of acquiring and maintaining the district and potential legal issues that the district still had not answered.
But at Monday’s council meeting, RWD No. 7 board president Rick Elnicki appeared before the board to propose that the city and the district re-enter negotiations, Bualle said. Elnicki was not available for comment Saturday evening as of press time.
“They still want someone to take over the district or join with them, and even maybe reconsider acquisition,” Bualle said. “The consensus of the council was ‘Of course, we should talk to them. They’re going to go back to the board and discuss at their next meeting what they would like to consider doing. We’ll talk about it, too.”
Franklin still has not paid Arma the $11,000 it owes from the previous agreement.
The water project has been on for two years,” Bualle said, but there’s hope that an agreement can be reached in the near future.
“This is a lot more involved than we anticipated, but we have it sorted out now,” Bualle said.
Franklin Rural Water District No. 7 has been at odds with the City of Arma lately about whether to continue to purchase water from the city.
Arma recently built a six-inch pipeline to the district and had been selling water to Franklin for about a year. The city built the pipeline at Franklin’s request under a deal in which the city would pay the $11,000 construction cost if Franklin provided the material. Arma signed a contract to provide the district with water for 25 years, and Franklin had the option to back out after a year. And that’s exactly what happened. Franklin also approached Arma about a deal to acquire the district, but negotiations on that deal stalled.
“It’s very complicated,” Arma City Council president Buddy Bualle said, adding that before the city can acquire the district, by law it must have a contract to provide it with water. In October the council decided not to continue to pursue negotiations with the district because of existing questions about the cost of acquiring and maintaining the district and potential legal issues that the district still had not answered.
But at Monday’s council meeting, RWD No. 7 board president Rick Elnicki appeared before the board to propose that the city and the district re-enter negotiations, Bualle said. Elnicki was not available for comment Saturday evening as of press time.
“They still want someone to take over the district or join with them, and even maybe reconsider acquisition,” Bualle said. “The consensus of the council was ‘Of course, we should talk to them. They’re going to go back to the board and discuss at their next meeting what they would like to consider doing. We’ll talk about it, too.”
Franklin still has not paid Arma the $11,000 it owes from the previous agreement.
The water project has been on for two years,” Bualle said, but there’s hope that an agreement can be reached in the near future.
“This is a lot more involved than we anticipated, but we have it sorted out now,” Bualle said.
