City Administrator David Mayfield said Marion already has an $800,000 loan for upgrading approved by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment with the possibility of obtaining even more through Rural Development with possibly some grant money.

Citizen Jim Davis noted that buying water from Hillsboro, with that city providing it for all three towns, would "scrub" the improvements already made at Marion's water plant. Chief among these might be the clearwell completed in 2000.

Mayfield said a new water district or other choices might raise residential water rates from the current range of just above $2 a thousand gallons to rates of $3 to $4 a thousand.

Mayfield said there was a meeting of Marion officials, Hillsboro officials, KDHE, RD, and the Kansas Rural Water Association to discuss the study of a cooperative district.

Afterward, Hillsboro decided, with Marion officials also backing down from the expense of the proposal, to opt for upgrading its own water plant.

Hillsboro also offered to sell Marion water, Mayfield said, just as it already sells water to Peabody.

Mayfield said the proposed public wholesale water district would have required three to six months to form, then loans had to go through, then engineering "with a bottom line of it being two to three years down the road before it was producing water."

State officials confirmed his timetable estimate, but also said they would sign a consent agreement to allow Marion to continue to operate its water plant as long as the city had a plan in place to keep working toward compliance with new guidelines for upgrades.

Mayfield said he and Mayor Martin Tice had indicated interest in Hillsboro's proposal provided Hillsboro could guarantee rates for Marion customers that are still down in the $2 range.

He said Hillsboro Mayor Delores Dalke had replied that Hillsboro would need engineering reports back before being able to make rate guarantees.

Mayfield said there are other considerations to buying water from Hillsboro. He said Marion would have to build a water line to the Canada Road to join the line the City of Peabody owns to bring water from Hillsboro.

Mayfield said the initial cost to build the high-pressure line is estimated at $1.04 million, plus Marion would have to maintain the line, and pay fees to Peabody on the remaining line to Hillsboro.

RD, he said, has indicated a $1.6 million loan, including some grant money, would be available to Marion, but grant money probably only would apply to the lesser cost alternative.

Although RD makes a 40-year loan at an attractive rate, Mayfield said the cost of interest to Marion over that time could be prohibitive. Marion already makes annual payments of $91,820 for water plant upgrades, he said.

Revenues from water at current rates in Marion would fund an $800,000 loan, he said. Plus, he added, there is the continuing pressure in the background that Marion is one of 39 cities in Kansas that is out of compliance with new KDHE upgrades, and it must show progress to keep state approval.

Commissioner Jim Crofoot said Marion could try to use RD funding to go beyond what is required under stage one rules mandated by KDHE and EPA to be better situated for Stage 2 rules "down the road."

But he and the others acknowledged that they not only don't know what Stage 2 rules will be, but there could be stage three and four beyond.

Mayfield said it could be a relief to Marion to get out of the water business as much as possible, and let Hillsboro handle it.

Commissioner Larry McLain elaborated on a point by Mayfield that Hillsboro has to pump water from Marion Reservoir making service more "interruptible" while Marion has a gravity-flow line.

McLain said he is concerned "there are too many variables" to service that Hillsboro will need to make guarantees on. He said Marion will need assurances that service needs will be acted on quickly "when it doesn't affect them, too."

Mayfield said KDHE acknowledges that Marion has "a good plant." It has not worn out or been neglected, and Mayfield said the city could work through minimal upgrades needed if KDHE continues to grant extensions for work in progress.

McLain said it could be in the interest of the county to have at least two water plants for one to support the other in times of need.

Crofoot suggested waiting a week on engineering before trying to make decisions.

Mayfield said he would schedule a meeting with the city's consulting engineers, Bucher, Willis and Ratliff, to discuss plant upgrades.

Police Chief Michel Soyez said he would like to see the starting point for the Old Settlers Day parade moved from the Jex Addition to Walnut Street. He said it originally was started on Walnut, but moved during street construction, and never returned.

Soyez said Walnut has more side streets for parade participants to line up on, such as putting farm equipment down Washington, and safety issues crossing railroad tracks would be reduced.

Soyez announced receipt of a Kansas Local Law Enforcement Grant for $5,958, which the city must match with $662, to put cameras in two squad cars.

City Clerk Linda Holub is completing the final Municipal City Clerks program in Wichita she will need to graduate as a certified city clerk this Thursday.

City offices will be closed Thursday for Veterans' Day.