City commissions for Ark City and Winfield are planning on authorizing just over a half-million dollars each for the replacement of a water tower at Strother Field.
According to the agenda for the Ark City commission’s meeting on Tuesday, commissioners will consider the first reading of an ordinance authorizing the execution of a loan agreement between the City of Arkansas City and the State of Kansas, acting by and through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, for the purpose of obtaining a loan from the Kansas Public Water Supply Loan Fund for the purpose of financing the project.
According to Ark City Manager Randy Fraizer, the City of Ark City and the City of Winfield share ownership of Strother Field and thus, it has no such authority to authorize such funding on its own.
Strother Field Manager Shawn McGrew told Cowley Post Friday the existing water tower, located at the south side of the airfield with a capacity of 320,000 gallons, has been in use since the 1960s and is no longer cost-effective to maintain.
McGrew said the new water tower will have a capacity of 200,000 gallons — similar to Stother Field’s newest tower built in the early 2000s.
“Just to get the old water tower painted would cost half a million dollars,” McGrew said. “And there is warping.”
McGrew said Strother Field’s daily water consumption is approximately 100,000 gallons.
The replacement for the old water tower will cost roughly $1.2 million.
Winfield City Manager Taggart Wall said the Winfield City Commission will look to approve its half on Aug. 7.
