New chamber administrator glad to be back in Ellinwood
New Ellinwood Chamber of Commerce Administrator J. Basil Dannebohm told the Barton County Commission Monday morning that he is glad to be returning to the community and is looking forward to the future.
“It’s exciting for me to be coming home,” the Ellinwood native said. Armed with the inspiration for public service acquired as a teenager, he left his hometown 18 years ago to apply his passion.
Joe Hickel, the late Ellinwood mayor and educator, had instilled in a young Dannebohm the importance of serving one’s community. As a youth, he worked with the recycling program, helped with the Wheat Bowl football game and gave tours of the historic underground tunnels.
This led to public relations jobs with Old Town in Wichita and October Fest in Hays, as well as marketing jobs with the Lawrence Journal-World and Rocky Mountain News. Then it was a stint in San Francisco before returning to Kansas.
“Coming home is probably the highlight of my career,” he said.
“Barton County wants to succeed,” he said, adding this is a rare trait in rural areas and will make his job easier. “The people see it as their obligation to help.”
The same holds true for his home. “Ellinwood isn’t a community, it’s a family.”
It may only be a first step in preventing future flooding in Ellinwood, but the Barton County Commission Monday morning approved a cooperative agreement with the city to improve water flow along its eastern edge, an area hit hard by recent heavy rains.
This work could include new or larger culverts that can handle water faster, and cleaning out the ditches. At issue is drainage along Hirsch Street, the eastern-most north-south street in Ellinwood which is actually a county road, SE 110 Avenue.
The most recent deluge caused flooding in Ellinwood, prompting the need for sandbags and sparking a renewed call from local officials for county assistance.
County Administrator Richard Boeckman said he, Ellinwood City Administrator Bob Peter and others toured the area two weeks ago. They have also met since then to arrive at an answer.
“The city is looking for help from the county with issues on the east side,” said County Engineer Clark Rusco. He was involved in the effort to find a more efficient method of diverting water from the area.
He said they will come up with a plan, but it may not be that simple to implement. Although the land in question is part of the county road right-of-way, permits may be required from the Kansas Department of Water Resources.
However, there may be bigger flooding issues at play, issues that would require federal involvement, Rusco said. “We have to look at the big picture.”
Creeks and natural channels funnel water to Ellinwood from a swatch of Barton County north and east of town. This stretches east from Barton Community College and NE 60 Avenue (the Dartmouth Road).
The idea, Rusco said, was to get the water to flow into the Arkansas River.
This would be a much more complex project, Rusco said. It could include flood-control ditches, and would take years and the involvement of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies.
That’s where the culvert and ditch work come into the picture. “There are some incremental improvements that could be made in the meantime. We can look at things we can fix right now,” Rusco said.
Commissioners saw two issues – the interim projects and the long-range plans. Their action Monday dealt only with the short-term situation.
But, Peter said these are problems that have plagued the area for years, and Ellinwood takes the brunt of them. “None of this is of our making.”
The recent rains which totaled about nine inches fell right on Ellinwood, making it different than the flooding in 2007 when the water flowed into the town from elsewhere. But, Peter said the city’s sewer system could handle the localized showers.
It’s the external water that causes the problems, he said. “I don’t have any easy solutions.”
