LAHARPE — LaHarpe will apply for a $1.4 million loan to begin improving the city’s water system.
City Council members capped an extended, and occasionally testy, discussion Wednesday by applying for the loan from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, at the urging of BG Consultant engineers.
The city’s sewer system has two main problems, BG representatives Bruce Boettcher and Wes Sishaar explained.
The first stems from the amount of inflow and infiltration of such things as stormwater entering the sewer system because of failed lines and leaky tap connections.
The extent of that damage will be determined later this fall with the use of a camera inspection of the lines, Mayor Mae Crowell said.
The second issue — the one Council members are targeting first — deals with LaHarpe’s lift stations, all of which are nearing the end of their expected life. 
A lift station is a pumping station that moves wastewater from a lower elevation to a higher elevation.
“If our lift stations go down, we’re in trouble,” Crowell said. “This is to the point we have to do it.”
Wednesday’s hearing and subsequent regular meeting were held in front of a crowd of about 25 residents, many of whom voiced opposition to an expected meter charge hike that would be used to pay off the loan.
Boettcher estimated sewer fees could wind up anywhere from $40.30 to $57.20 per month, depending on how the project is financed. Current sewer fees cost LaHarpe residents $32 monthly.
There are plenty of factors at play, Boettcher noted.
First of all, the city learned only in July LaHarpe would be unable to apply for Community Development Block (CDBG) grants to help fund the project because of limits put on this year’s disbursements. (The current edict is that CDBG grants can be used only for such things trail development and daycare facilities, but not city infrastructure.)
Ideally, the city could use CDBG funding in future years, if the feds loosen those purse strings.
And the Council also may be eligible for a Rural Development loan/grant match from the United States Department of Agriculture, he continued.
But with a looming deadline to apply for the KDHE Revolving Loan Fund, the Council must apply this week, Boettcher noted. Hence, the need for Wednesday’s hearing.
