LAHARPE — After narrowly missing out on a grant that would have helped fund upgrades to the city’s electric system, the LaHarpe City Council is putting its ducks in a row for another application.
Council members gathered Monday for a special meeting to discuss additional information requested by the Kansas Department of Commerce.
Among the items the city needs to clarify:
— The state has asked for “a basic understanding of the city’s ability to properly maintain electrical system if funded.” That means giving an account of all employees — in particular, their capabilities — and a full list of equipment. Mayor Mae Crowell noted the city has three qualified electricians on staff, including City Superintendent Kelly Rouse. They were not on board when the city applied last summer.
— LaHarpe also must spell out tasks or incidents that can be maintained or repaired in-house, or if outside help is necessary, such as disasters.
— The state also wants to gauge the interest of outside utility suppliers, such as Westar and the Kansas Rural Electric Cooperative, to see if LaHarpe’s system would be better off in another entity’s hands.
Council members noted KREC has already indicated it had no interest in acquiring LaHarpe’s system. They suspected Westar would be of the same mind, although former Councilman Clayton Carr objected to that notion.
Perhaps the city’s electric system would be better off if it was owned and managed by Westar, Carr said.
Councilman Danny Ware responded by noting LaHarpe would be better off owning its own electric system because of the budgetary advantages. Electric sales are the top revenue producer for LaHarpe. By owning its own system, all profits are the city’s.
Carr said LaHarpe must then provide a full accounting of all expenses — including overtime pay, and whether outside contractors are hired — to ensure the electric system is a profitable one.
Of the 19 cities or counties applying for CDBG funding last year, three (including LaHarpe) sought funds for electric service upgrades. All three were denied.
THE CITY IS applying for a $400,000 Community Development Block grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce, which administers the federal funds.
For more than a decade, LaHarpe’s electric system has been targeted by city officials as in dire need of improvement.
That’s because the city’s old “delta” system was prone to occasional outages and brown-outs.
Since then, the city has converted roughly half of the city to a “Y” electric system — done so by adding a neutral line to the existing utility poles. Having the added neutral line enables the city to more quickly and safely isolate portions of the system for repairs.
The city has used the reserves — a $5 meter fee was added about 10 years ago to help fund the upgrades — for periodic upgrades through the years. But as other areas of the LaHarpe’s budget struggled, the city dipped into its electric reserves.
