Rural Water District No. 2 Miami County

District Court Case RWD#2 Vs Louisburg

A final judgment has been written by Chief District Judge Richard M. Smith in our dispute with the City of Louisburg regarding service of territory granted to the Water District by the Miami County Commission in 1966. His decision was to uphold the finding that RWD #2 should only be awarded $133,000 of the $13,000,000 requested by the District. A similar dispute with the City of Paola has been successfully resolved through a non-binding mediation process without court intervention. The lawsuit with Louisburg has been ongoing for approximately two years and was required since Louisburg would not agree to negotiate on which entity would serve annexed territory. These courses of action are important to the District because significant District funds were spent to provide infrastructure to supply water to current and potential customers in the areas under dispute.

The Water District does not agree with the final judgment made by the District Court and intends to appeal the decision to the State Supreme Court. The basis for this appeal consists of addressing the substance of two points made by Judge Smith in support of his decision:

That RWD#2 failed to prove to the court through previous testimony that the $133,000 awarded by the court was unreasonable. (Our position on this finding is that we were unable to argue the unreasonableness of the award since the Judge would not allow a hearing to discuss this issue).
That the law in this matter does not require compensation unless “undisputed evidence” demonstrates that compensation is necessary to make the value reasonable. (The “undisputed evidence” in this case is that 300 current customers of RWD#2 are in the annexed territory, and this fact was not considered by the court.)

Over the past decade, the District has been able to reduce the cost of water production by ordering treatment chemicals in bulk and by the addition of wholesale and retail customers. The District has been aggressively pursuing wholesale customers which currently include the City of Spring Hill, Franklin County RWD#1, Miami County RWD#1 and the City of Edgerton. Johnson County RWD#7 has been a large wholesale customer since the plant was built in 1985. The District has expanded its retail customer base to just over 3,500 benefit unit holders. The District feels that it is imperative to retain the existing water service area and not lose these critical service areas to the cities. Workable agreements can be reached. Years ago, plans were made and implemented, and millions of District funds were invested to upgrade the infrastructure to serve these areas and other critical areas of Rural Water District No 2. For these reasons, your Water District has had to seek court intervention to prevent erosion of District service areas.

The District is in the process of replacing pipeline in the south central portion of the county to improve service to customers. A major expansion in northern Miami County that will include a one million gallon water tower is in the planning stages. This expansion is required to replace the central zone water tower. The new tower will become the primary water storage for the central zone of the water district. There are also plans to procure auxiliary power generation capabilities at the plant and raw water pumping station to protect the supply of water during a serious weather event.

Miami County Rural Water District #2 continues to keep its patrons’ best interest in mind. You are the number one priority as the district plans for the future. Water is a necessity that everyone enjoys and we are committed to providing the best quality water at the most economical price.

Rural Water District No. 2, Miami County, Kansas is located on the Hillsdale Reservoir. It is our mission to provide the best quality of water with the highest level of customer service.

The District has grown from its small beginnings in 1965 to 3,450 customers in 2006 with over 650 miles of pipeline. We also produce wholesale water for several surrounding Rural Water Districts and Cities.

Our modern water facility is operated by nine employees and governed by a Board of nine Directors. We are very proud of our ability to serve our patrons and meet the continuing growth of Miami County. We are especially pleased to be able to offer online bill payment options.

Rural Water District No. 2, Miami County ♦ 25290 Harmony Road, Paola, Kansas 66071
♦ 913.783.4325 ♦ website by jensharp.com