Council discusses options for alley drainage problems
Staff reporter
susan@marionrecord.com
Standing water and drainage issues in the alley in the 100 block of North Freeborn Street have caused residents in that area to be frustrated for several years.
Marion City Councilman Bill Holdeman asked the other council members to consider a remedy to that problem during Monday's council meeting.
Holdeman asked city officials if they should talk with Casey's General Store about the drainage situation, which Holdeman believes is caused by the construction and parking lot. The comment was made that the city approved the building permit when the building was constructed.
City attorney Dan Baldwin said the city was responsible for controlling and maintaining the alleys.
"If we can alleviate a drainage problem then we probably should," Baldwin said. He said it opens the question of how it happened in the first place and if others should share the cost.
City public works director Harvey Sanders said standing water has been an issue in that area as long as he could remember. The water can't be drained from one property to the next and a culvert would be costly to construct.
"We've got the same problem in 100 other places in town," Sanders said.
City crews will look at the situation and make a recommendation at a future meeting.
In other business:
— City administrator David Mayfield reported that the city has the opportunity to participate with Kansas Department of Transportation in the KLINK project for Main Street. The project provides up to $200,000 for resurfacing of streets/roads that connect one state highway with another state highway.
The city's share would be 25 percent.
The project wouldn't take place until 2011, when the money is released by KDOT.
The council approved the application for funding.
— In the consent agenda, the council approved a payment to Walters Morgan for $45,274 for improvements at the city's water treatment plant and an electric license for Tina McIntonye DBA Elcon Services Inc.
