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
Tom Shimon
Executive Director
Phone: (316) 687-0494
tshimon@swbell.net
Keely Hosmann
Public Relations Manager
Phone: (316) 243-8502
keely@kansas811.com
Arch York
Damage Prevention Manager
Phone: (913) 219-4174
archyork@kansas811.com
Operations/Call Center Staff
Dawn Jester
General Manager
Phone: (316) 612-4001
dawn@occinc.com
Marcus Corbin
Center Manager
Phone: (316) 612-4007
marcus@occinc.com
Linda Ronco
Office Administrator
Membership Billing/General Membership
Phone: (316) 612-4002
lindaronco@occinc.com
Peggi Nicholas
Database Administrator
Member Changes
Phone: (316) 612-4003
pnicholas@occinc.com
Jessica Gray
Kansas ITIC Administrator
(Internet Tickets)
Phone: (316) 687-2102
ksitic@occinc.com
Elly Wolf
Office Manager
Phone: (316) 687-2102
elly@occinc.com
Office Supervisor
Phone: (316) 687-2102
koc@occinc.com
Ticket Receiving and Contact Information Changes
Phone: (316) 687-2102
koc@occinc.com
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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Board of Directors
The Board of Directors for Kansas 811 is comprised of various member utility companies.
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
Cody Corbet
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
Benchmark Subsurface Utility Services
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.
Chairman
Chris Elmore
Cox Communications
Wichita, KS
Affiliate: Cable TV
Vice Chairman
Nate Winfrey
Evergy
Kansas City, KS
Affiliate: Electric
Members
Jerry Barrios
Atmos Energy
Olathe, KS
Affiliate: Pipeline
Terrie Berry
BP – US Pipeline & Logistics
Affiliate: Pipeline
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
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
Dawn Jester
One Call Concepts
Wichita, KS
Affiliate: General 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