LAHARPE — The second time was a charm.
One year after unsuccessfully trying for a $400,000 Community Development Block Grant, LaHarpe has learned its second application has been accepted by the state.
Word was sent to LaHarpe from the governor’s office earlier this month about the grant, which will help pay for upgrades to LaHarpe’s electric grid.
The grant, consisting of federal funds, will be administered by the Kansas Department of Commerce, and should cover roughly half of the citywide upgrades.
Engineers in 2015 estimated a full upgrade to a “wye three-phase” electric system — done so by adding a neutral line to existing power poles, replacing all of the city’s aging transformers and replacing scores of aging poles and thousands of feet of other electric lines — would cost the city about $790,000.
Having the added neutral line enables the city to more quickly and safely isolate portions of the system for repairs, and should eradicate LaHarpe’s notorious “brownouts,” in which customers receive only a trickle of electricity.
Brownouts are particularly hard on electric motors for televisions, climate-control systems and appliances.
LaHarpe Council members in October approved a $15 monthly increase in electric meter fees, which should be sufficient to cover an annual $23,000 bond payment, thus paying the other half of the pending upgrades.
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City Clerk Michelle Altis told the Register she hopes to have more details about upgrade schedules and other specifics about the grant and bond funding by the Council’s Feb. 8 meeting.
