Arma, Franklin at odds over water

There’s one thing that both the Arma City Council and Franklin Rural Water District No. 7 can agree on.

Their current situation is a bit complicated right now.

Council members discussed the issue during their Monday meeting in view of a letter received Monday by the council from the Franklin water district board. In the letter, the board expressed its wish to terminate an agreement to purchase water from the City of Arma.

Troy Graham, Arma city administrator, said that the water purchase agreement was signed about a year ago.

“A few months ago they asked us to acquire their whole RWD No. 7 system and make it part of our system,” Graham said. “We sent them back a letter asking for more information.”

According to earlier accounts, council member Buddy Bualle was concerned that if the city acquired the district, it might lose money in the long run. Other council members wanted to get more information before making a decision.

“We got a letter from the city saying that it did not want to acquire our district, so we responded and canceled the purchase agreement,” said Rick Elnicki, RWD No. 7 board president, in a telephone call following the meeting.

Elnicki said that the purchase agreement was originally done with the intent for Arma to take over the entire RWD No. 7 system.

However, council members felt that the two are separate matters.

“The letter we sent was about taking over the entire system, and had nothing to do with wholesale purchase agreement,” said council member Rock Anderson. “I’m disappointed that this was thrown out and would like to know why.”

Elnicki said the city had made requirements that they could not meet, including a 25-year purchase agreement and a guarantee that there would be no lawsuit between RWD No. 7 and Rural Water District No. 2, which is the Franklin system’s other water supplier.

“We can’t guarantee no lawsuit, and a 25-year agreement was never our intent,” Elnicki said. “We felt that we needed to go back to square one.”

There’s also the matter of $11,000 which the Arma City Council feels that RWD No. 7 owes the city.

“Under the purchase agreement, we put a new six-inch water line down there, with a fire hydrant at the end,” Graham said. “They’ve got flush hydrants, but there’s no other fire hydrant in Franklin. That cost around $11,000.”

Bualle said that it is the district’s choice to terminate the water purchase agreement, but that does not change its obligation to pay the $11,000.

“In their letter, they say they don’t wish to  pay it,” he said. “I would hope they would think through this and pay that bill.”

In his telephone interview, Elnicki responded that if the district continued to purchase water from Arma, it would need the water line.

“If we do not purchase water from Arma, we don’t need the water line,” he said.

Rick Smith, Arma city attorney, said that he would like to send the district board a letter reminding it of its obligation to pay.

“They can terminate the purchase agreement with 30 days notice, but they will have September’s bill and also the October bill,” he added.

Bualle said that the bill is due Sept. 29, which is a Saturday.

“We should give them until that Monday to pay, and then proceed with legal resources,” he said.

Elnicki said that the district might continue to purchase Arma water for a time.

“At this point, we want to have some discussions with Arma and RWD No. 2,” he said. “As for the $11,000, it’s something we’ll have discussion about.”

Graham said that both Arma and RWD No. 7 benefited from the water purchase agreement.

“We need to sell some water because we have to buy so much from Bone Creek,” he said. “We can offer them good water pressure.”

In other business, the council received notice from Don Zornes resigning from his council seat because he is moving out of the city.

“Don has been an asset to the council,” Bualle said.

The resignation will be accepted at the next meeting, and steps will be taken to fill the vacant seat.
Under city regulations, the mayor appoints a replacement who must then be approved by the council.