Written By: David Elliott
Published Date: 02-02-2022
The Russell City Council met Tuesday in what turned out to be more of a work session than an actual meeting due to no quorum.
Only four of the eight Councilmembers were present. Quorum is five, so no action was taken in the session.
Several agenda items were discussed though, including a project to rebuild the City’s electric distribution system.
The City’s electric service area includes the City proper and approximately 50 square miles of rural service area primarily located south of the City. City crews regularly perform maintenance and upgrades on the City’s electric distribution system to increase system reliability according to City staff. City crews built an alternate 34.5 kilovolt distribution line from the Homer Substation in the south to the Main Plant to complete the alternate 34.5 kV loop. The 34.5 kV project also included Substations 2 and 4 upgrades.
Because of the age of the distribution system, staff recommended and the City Council approved development of a multi-year plan to upgrade the electric distribution system within the City proper. The upgrade, completed in phases, is expected to take 10 years to allow for adequate planning, design and funding. The Council approved a Master Services Agreement with Kansas Municipal Energy Agency and Mid-States to work with the City on this project.
The first project task, completed in December 2021, was a complete inventory of all distribution system assets needed to better aid in the engineer’s design and eventual staking of circuits. From this information, staff worked with KMEA, Mid-States and RMA Engineering to develop the multi-year plan and priorities.
City of Russell Electric Utilities Director Duane Banks, along with Mike Schmaderer, Director of Engineering and Field Services for KMEA and Mid-States, and JP Metzler, owner of RMA Engineering, discussed the electric distribution rebuild assessment priorities on Tuesday. The east residential areas of the City were noted as the top priority.
Also Tuesday, the Council discussed a 24-7 Travel Store development agreement, the upcoming annual community clean-up day, and parks equipment and municipal pool upgrades.
