By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
With the current dry conditions, remembering the large amount of rain
Central Kansas received in the spring of 2019 may be difficult. That wetter than average spring in Great Bend left several homeowners with water
seeping into their basements or forced them into installing extra sump pumps.
In August 2020, the City of Great Bend announced multiple home owners in the
Amber Meadows subdivision sued the city. The residents, just north of Veterans
Memorial Park, claimed that their basements occasionally flood and the city
caused the flooding.
On Monday night, the Great Bend City Council approved a general release that frees
the city of any future claims. City Attorney Allen Glendenning said the release
has been approved by all the plaintiffs.
"This is not an admission of liability either," said Glendenning. "It specifically says in this general release that everybody agrees, including the plaintiffs, that this is not an admission of liability. It's just a way to get this lawsuit behind us."
The Amber Meadows home owners sued multiple parties, but the lawsuit against
city ends with the approved release. The city’s insurance provider will
determine if a monetary settlement is needed.
"There is a monetary component, but that is not something the city council has any say in at all," said Glendenning. "That's up to the insurance company to decide whether they want to pay money to resolve this lawsuit so they can quit paying attorney fees. It will get the city out from under any possibility of any kind of judgement that might exceed the policy limits."
At the time in 2019, how the housing development was platted and grading issues
were questioned by home owners. Great Bend’s on-call engineer at the time
stated he was confident the problem was caused by the rising groundwater table.