The City of Emporia will be joining a national class action lawsuit; however, there is no need for concern, according to city officials.
Following the first of two executive sessions as part of their regular meeting slate Tuesday, city commissioners approved Mayor Erren Harter to sign and authorize a legal services agreement with Stag Liuzza, LLC and Perry and Trent to join a class action lawsuit seeking damage claims from manufacturers of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), also known as forever chemicals due to their seeping into water supplies. City Manager Trey Cocking, in an interview with local media, stressed that this is a national matter and not an immediate concern for the city of Emporia.
With that in mind, and with no cause for alarm at this time, KVOE News asked Cocking why the city felt it necessary to be involved in the matter. Cocking says first and foremost, by joining the class action, the city could receive compensation that can be put towards future infrastructure improvements.
Cocking also noted that the compensation could be in the single digits or in the seven figures; however, that won’t be known until, or if, the lawsuit is settled. With no knowledge of what they could receive, KVOE News asked why the city felt the risk was worth the reward. To this, Cocking stated that there is virtually no risk to the city from a financial standpoint, as joining the suit comes at no expense to the city.
In other business Tuesday, commissioners approved the appointment of Matthew Lowery and Jami Kauffman to the Homelessness Advisory Board and Don Loux to the Transient Guest Tax Advisory Board. Commissioners also approved a better than $227,200 bid to Cardinal Sitework LLC for improvements to Lift Station 15 and amended the parcel type of 315 South Market, the former Kansas Avenue School building, from civic/public use to multi/family residential.
The change in parcel type is the latest step in efforts by Frontier Development to convert the former school building into residential units and a condition of the company’s purchase of the property of USD 253 Emporia earlier this year.
Following two executive sessions, commissioners convened their regular study meeting, where the main topics of discussion were mobile food vendor licensing and the city’s fats, oils and grease (FOG) program.
