Dodge City considering $10 million water rights acquisition from company partially owned by city commissioner

Dodge City, Kan. (KWCH) - The Dodge City Commission is being asked to approve a $10 million contract to purchase 3,732 acre-feet of water rights from JR Farms and Reinert Partnerships, a move city staff says could benefit residents “for generations to come.”

Under the proposed agreement, the city would pay $2,679.53 per acre-foot, with $2.5 million due at closing and the remaining $7.5 million financed at 3.5% interest over 20 years, according to the agenda item. The city says the purchase would be funded through the Water Fund.

Some community members are calling this a conflict of interest, since JR Farms and Reinert Partnerships is partially owned by Dodge City City Commissioner Jeff Reinert. City Manager Nick Hernandez says Reinert owns 30% of the water being considered for purchase, while the other 70% is owned by his father Jimmie Dean Reinert. Longtime Dodge City resident Jolee Chris Cole said she’s happy the city is being proactive, but she finds it concerning the city hasn’t reached out to others to see if they’re willing to sell water rights.

“I’m sure there’s lots of people in Ford County that would like to sell their water rights,” said Coles. She believes once the proposal from Commissioner Reinert came in, serious action should have been taken. “I think at that time that’s when the commissioner should have stepped down from the city commission.”

City Manager Hernandez told 12 News the city doesn’t proactively solicit bids for water rights, and no one has offered to sell water at a lower price than Commissioner Reinert’s company. Reinert has also recused himself from the entire process involving the potential water rights purchase.

Dodge City Mayor Daniel Pogue said while the city doesn’t solicit bids for water rights, multiple community members have offered other potential water rights acquisition opportunities.

“City staff is actively exploring those options as well and conducting the necessary due diligence to determine whether they may provide a better opportunity for the city,” said Mayor Pogue.

Still, Coles isn’t satisfied with the way the process is playing out. She said she’d be fine if Commissioner Reinert simply worked for the company. “But in this instance,” she said. “The commissioner actually makes the decisions.”

For her, it all comes down to transparency. “If this particular city commission wanted to be transparent then they would have said, hey, we’ll begin in talks. But you can’t be on both sides of the transaction. It would have been much better for him to have stepped down and went beyond recusing himself,” said Coles.

12 News reached out to Commissioner Reinert and had not heard back at the time this story was published.

If you’d like to read more details about the proposal, Dodge City has put together a presentation which can be found here.

The city commission will vote on the proposal at it’s next meeting on Monday, June 15th. The public is invited to attend and provide comment.