ARMA, Kan. — The Arma Water Department’s filter is in definite need of repairs, according to superintendent Austin Spragg. He shared his assessment at last week’s City Council meeting.

“The water plant is on its last leg, and it really is crippling now,” said Spragg. “Last week, it decided to blow a bigger hole in the filter tank. Talked to two different engineering firms.”

According to Spragg, one of the quotes that he received for the filter tank, which included sandblasting, coating, and repairs, was $28,500 while another was $80,000 to replace the entire tank instead of repairing.

“I don’t know how I wanted to go about this if I wanted to get the media put in and repaired first,” said Spragg. “But I feel like if I do that, I’m putting a lot of stress on the one that’s leaking, and I don’t know how long this is going to take to get out and replaced. So what I’d like to do is have the one that’s leaking repaired, get all the media taken out of it, and get what needs repaired on it repaired, replace it with media, and then look towards getting the other media replaced in the one that’s not leaking.”

After a lengthy discussion, the council approved several bids for the filter media removal, inspection of the tank as well as, if required, the repairing of the tank and the filter media refill for a total of approximately $48,000. Those whose bids were approved were Haynes Well & Pump Service ($28,500), Starbuck Trucking LLC. ($12,800), and Water Tank Inspection ($6,918).

In other business, the Arma Police Department remains busy with summer travel along Hwy. 69 and N. West St., conducting 159 traffic stops through May. 

Between May 1 and May 26, the Arma Police Department had 103 calls for service, 92 citizen contacts, 10 ordinance violations, 84 traffic stops, 69 warnings, 18 citations, three vehicle unlocks, nine medical assists, five arrests, six alarm checks, six building checks, 449 section checks, eight vehicle checks, five incident reports, eight offense reports, one accident report, 10 mutual aids, and four dog pickups.  

From May 27 to May 31, the department conducted 25 calls for service, 25 citizen contacts, 75 traffic stops, 43 warnings, 31 citations, two vehicle unlocks, one arrest, two alarm checks, one building check, 70 section checks, one incident report, one offense report, one accident report and two mutual aids.  

The council also approved the hiring of Joanna Johnson as an officer at the rate of $18 an hour, and requiring training at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center.

The next council meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Monday, June 15. Meetings are held at the council meeting room next door to Arma City Hall, located at 701 E. Washington St. For more information or to be placed on the agenda, call the Arma City Hall at 620-347-4125.

This reporting is made possible, in part, by the Support Local Journalism Project Fund. Learn more at: southeastkansas.org/Localnews.