By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
With the city-imposed deadline just one week away, the R9 Ranch water project will move forward by Friday, March 1.
Hays Mayor Henry Schwaller made that announcement during Thursday night’s city commission work session saying the Division of Water Resources Chief Engineer “has promised he’s going to get the Final Master Order off his desk by next Friday.”
“We’re going to move forward. It’ll then go to review by internal counsel there at the Division of Water Resources and then handed over to the city for its review,” said Schwaller.
“I want to thank Commissioner Meier because during his term as mayor he made this a priority. That’s what really got this kickstarted. Because of him, we’ve entered this final stretch which has really gotten dragged out.”
Vice-Mayor Shaun Musil said he had reached out to Chief Engineer David Barfield earlier on Thursday.
“I personally thought it was a very good conversation and I feel like he’s definitely hearing us,” Musil said.
He thanked Schwaller and former mayor James Meier for their leadership in working with state officials to speed up the change order process which has been underway since June 2015.
“I think they are hearing us. I know it’s not as soon as we want to get it done,” added Musil, “but I think it’s happening just by your comments to get it going.”
During a Tuesday news conference detailing a personal visit with the governor on Monday, Schwaller said the Kansas Livestock Association (KLA) has endorsed the long-term water project.
That was incorrect.
“I mistakenly said they had endorsed the project when really they were just involved in it to a light degree. I just want to correct the record,” he clarified.
Schwaller said KLA had asked about doing some water modeling. “We said no, we’re going to handle that. We did keep them in the loop.”
The water modeling to determine how much water would be moved from Edwards County to Ellis County and used by the cities of Hays and Russell was conducted by Black and Veatch engineers.
In May 2018, the Kansas Department of Agriculture Division of Water Resources released a Draft Master Order approving an application to convert water use on the city-owned property from agricultural to municipal.
Following a public hearing in Greensburg in June, DWR Chief Engineer Barfield began preparing the Final Master Order.