About Us – Kansas811

Kansas 811 is the underground utility notification center for the state of Kansas. Through this facility, a person can notify operators of underground facilities of proposed excavations to request that the underground facilities be marked before they dig.

Mission

Kansas 811 is committed to serving its membership and providing excellent notification services for excavators, promoting damage prevention, and protecting the public welfare

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Company Organization

Kansas 811 is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kansas One-Call System, Inc., an incorporated not-for-profit 501(c)(6) organization, operates the statewide notification center for the State of Kansas. The organization is owned by the member underground utilities and is managed by a Board of Directors of underground utility owners/operators elected from the membership. The Notification Center has a full time Executive Director, a Damage Prevention Manager, and a Public Relations Manager to carry out the day-to-day operations, activities, policies, goals & objectives, and oversight of all contracts & obligations of the Notification Center.

Our Staff

Kansas 811 Staff

Operations/Call Center Staff

Tom Shimon
Executive Director
Phone: (316) 687-0494
[email protected]

Keely Hosmann
Public Relations Manager
Phone: (316) 243-8502
[email protected]

Arch York
Director of Damage Prevention
Phone: (913) 219-4174
[email protected]

Arch E York
Damage Prevention/ Media Manager
Phone: (913) 563-9444
[email protected]

Marcus Corbin
General Manager
Phone: (316) 612-4007
[email protected]

Elly Wolf
Office Manager
Phone: (316) 687-2102
[email protected]

Linda Ronco
Office Administrator
Membership Billing/General Membership
Phone: (316) 687-2102
[email protected]

Peggi Nicholas
Database Administrator
Member Changes
Phone: (316) 687-2102
[email protected]

Jessica Gray
Kansas ITIC Administrator
(Internet Tickets)
Phone: (316) 687-2102
[email protected]

Teandra Crawford
Office Supervisor
Phone: (316) 687-2102
[email protected]

Ticket Receiving and Contact Information Changes
Phone: (316) 687-2102
[email protected]

Damage Prevention

Kansas 811 spends a portion of its annual budget on public awareness and damage prevention through various media outlets throughout the state of Kansas. In addition to working with media outlets, Kansas 811 also sponsors several sporting events that include but are not limited to the use of banners, public service announcements, and video ads. Each year, Kansas 811, with the assistance of the Kansas Corporation Commission, obtains a Proclamation from the Governor’s office declaring April as “Safe Digging Month” throughout the State of Kansas.

Kansas 811 staff promote safe digging practices by meeting with individual excavation companies, county planning permitting and extension departments/agencies, member companies, damage prevention councils and at various industry-related trade shows. The best way to stay up to date on the activities and events that Kansas 811 is involved with is to refer to the News + Events tab and following our social media accounts.

Our History

It all began in 1978 as an organization known as “Kan-U-Dig-It”, a small call center located in the Southwestern Bell Telephone office in downtown Wichita, serving only the City of Wichita area. In the beginning, there were only four member utilities that had underground facilities in the City of Wichita. During the early 1980’s, the Department of Transportation’s Office of Pipeline Safety began to encourage/require that all interstate pipelines either join or create a notification center to accept notices of intent to excavate. These companies, along with several telecommunications companies, approached the original four members about creating a single statewide notification center for the State of Kansas. Committees were formed and seed money was raised to hire an attorney to fill out and file all of the necessary paperwork to create a corporation (Kansas One-Call System, Inc.), by-laws, IRS Not-for-Profit status, and create an RFP for call center operations. Academy Computing out of Oklahoma City was hired as the first operator of the call center. Within the first year of operation, Kansas One-Call grew from four members to over ninety members.

In 1987, Kansas One-Call hired One Call Concepts to replace Academy Computing to operate the notification center. The organization continued to grow its membership. Then in 1993, legislation was passed that officially designated a single notification center for the entire State of Kansas which required all underground facilities, systems or structures of gas, electricity, communications, crude oil, natural gas, and petroleum products to become members of Kansas One-Call. For the first time, the new legislation required that anyone who excavates in the State must file the notice of intent to excavate with the notification center. In the years following 1993, the Kansas Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act (KUUDPA) or “Call Before You Dig” statute/law has been modified a few times. Due to legislative changes to KUUDPA in 2008 (which required water and sewer utilities to become members), it was deemed that the Notification Center be a Public Agency subject to Open Meeting and Open Records. With these new requirements, the existing operator of the Notification Center (Kansas One-Call System, Inc.) needed to be reorganized.

In 2012, the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) created a new Public Agency Board of Directors to meet the requirements of the new legislation. This new organization was called the Kansas Underground Utility Notification Center (KUUNC). KUUNC was ordered by a Docket Order to begin organizing themselves to eventually operate the Notification Center for the State of Kansas. Committees were formed from the two Boards of Directors to begin transferring responsibility of the operation under the direction of KUUNC. In the fall of 2017, formal agreements to merge the two organizations (Kansas One-Call Systems, Inc. and KUUNC) together were signed by both Kansas One-Call and KUUNC. These documents, along with new by-laws, were sent to the KCC for final approval through a Docket Order, which was completed in February 2018. This resulted in a new parent organization called Kansas 811, formally known as KUUNC, to begin operations of the Notification Center and fully comply with the legislative changes of 2008. In 2018, while Kansas One-Call remained as a not-for-profit 501(c)(6) entity, it is fully owned and governed by the new Kansas 811 Board of Directors. The Board of Directors of Kansas 811 is proud to say that the Notification Center has provided uninterrupted service to the membership, excavators, and the public for the past 30+ years with a safe and efficient communications link between the underground facility owners and the excavating community throughout the State of Kansas.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors for Kansas 811 is comprised of various member utility companies.

Board Members

Chair

Fred Taylor
Midwest Energy
Stakeholder: Electric

Vice Chairman

Dan Maschka
Northern Natural Gas
Stakeholder: Gas and Dist. 2

Treasurer

Josh Newman
Evergy
Stakeholder: Electric 1

Secretary

Steve Degenhardt
City of Wichita
Stakeholder: Tier 2 Water/Waste 1

Members

Justin Clements
Kansas Gas Service
Stakeholder: Gas and Dist. 1

Chris Elmore
Cox Communications
Stakeholder: Communications 1

Greg Clarkson
AT&T
Stakeholder: Communications 3

Brad Mears
Kansas Municipal Utilities
Stakeholder: Municipal Utility

Kris Kline
Kansas Rural Water Ass’n
Stakeholder: Tier 2 Water/Waste 2

Rich Vogt
Johnson County WaterOne
Stakeholder: Tier 3 Water/Wastewater

Stan Waterman
Brightspeed
Stakeholder: Communications 2

Steve Preister
Detailed Underground LLC
Stakeholder: Locating Industry
Advisory Member

Rex Schick
Fiber Conduit Solutions
Stakeholder: Excavator
Advisory Member

Bill Haislip
Kansas Resident
Stakeholder: Public-at-Large
Advisory Member

Tom Shimon
Executive Director, Kansas 811

Operating Committee

The Operating Committee was created and serves at the pleasure of the Board of Directors (BOD) to advise them on matters affecting the business and affairs of the Notification Center. Members of the Operating Committee are generally employees of member utility companies who deal directly with the Notification Center receiving locate requests and deal with the Notification Center on a daily basis. From time-to-time the BOD will charge the committee to discuss various topics and bring the results of those discussions back to the BOD for a vote.

Committee Members

Chairman

Chris Elmore
Cox Communications
Wichita, KS
Affiliate: Cable TV

Vice Chairman

Nate Winfrey
Evergy
Kansas City, KS
Affiliate: Electric

Secretary

Justin Clements
Kansas Gas Service
Overland Park, KS
Affiliate: Gas

Members

Jerry Barrios
Atmos Energy
Olathe, KS
Affiliate: Pipeline

Terrie Berry
BP – US Pipeline & Logistics
Affiliate: Pipeline

Matt Bortz
Cox Communications
Wichita, KS
Affiliate: Communications

Tony Chavez
Kansas Gas Service
Merrillville, IN
Affiliate: Gas

Autumn Chisholm
Marion County RWD #1
Durham, KS
Affiliate: Rural Water

Greg Clarkson
AT&T
Oklahoma City, OK
Affiliate: Communications

Justin Clements
Kansas Gas Service
Overland Park, KS
Affiliate: Gas

Adam Cowart
KPC Pipeline
Olathe, KS
Affiliate: Pipeline

Terry Davis
Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Houston, TX
Affiliate: Pipeline

Steve Degenhardt
City of Wichita
Wichita, KS
Affiliate: Municipal

Mark Doebele
4 Rivers Electric Cooperative
Lebo, KS
Affiliate: Electric

Russell Downey
Enbridge
Humboldt, KS
Affiliate: Pipeline

Tom Eis
Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Beatrice, NE
Affiliate: Pipeline

Chad Fleming
Scout EP
Ulysses, KS
Affiliate: Pipeline

Jeremy Hurtado
Black Hills Energy
Wichita, KS
Affiliate: Gas

Lauri Kane
Nustar Energy
San Antonio, TX
Affiliate: Pipeline

Tyson Konen
ONEOK, Inc
Windom, KS
Affiliate: Pipeline

Chris Lies
AT&T
Wichita, KS
Affiliate: Communications

James Ocanas
Atmos Energy
Olathe, KS
Affiliate: Pipeline

Enden Nelson
CHS/Jayhawk Pipeline
Laurel, MT
Affiliate: Pipeline

Clayton Painter
Plains All American Pipeline, L.P.
Cushing, OK
Affiliate: Pipeline

Kevin Scheer
Southern Star Pipeline
Wichita, KS
Affiliate: Pipeline

Tina Steele
Evergy
Kansas City, MO
Affiliate: Electric

Gary Tolle
Southern Star Pipepine
Olathe, KS
Affiliate: Pipeline

Richard Ubben
Tallgrass Energy
Phillipsburg, KS
Affiliate: Pipeline

Loren Zimmerman
Panhandle Eastern Pipieline
Haven, KS
Affiliate: Pipeline

Advisory

Marcus Corbin
One Call Concepts
Wichita, KS
Affiliate: Center Manager

Verdis Green
Kiewit Power Constructors Co.
Lenexa, KS
Affiliate: Excavator

Keely Hosmann
Kansas 811
Wichita, KS
Affiliate: Public Relations Manager

Kade Neilson
Integrity Locating Services
Shawnee Mission, KS
Affiliate: Locator

Gary Ricks
Integrity Locating Services
Shawnee Mission, KS
Affiliate: Locator

Richard Senst
Pipeline (Retired)
Affiliate: Pipeline

Tom Shimon
Kansas 811
Wichita, KS
Affiliate: Executive Director

Jay Van Biber
Integrity Locating Services
Shawnee Mission, KS
Affiliate: Locator

Arch York
Kansas 811
Wichita, KS
Affiliate: Damage Prevention Manager